South sanctions vessels smuggling oil, coal, workers in and out of North

South Korea sanctioned 11 vessels on Wednesday for bringing refined oil to North Korea or engaging in transshipment of goods with North Korean vessels in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions...

The photo is not directly related to the story. The U.S.-designated North Korean vessel Kum Un San 3 conducts a ship-to-ship transfer, possibly of oil, with the Panama-flagged Koti in an effort to evade sanctions on Dec. 9, 2017. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

South Korea sanctioned 11 vessels on Wednesday for bringing refined oil to North Korea or engaging in transshipment of goods with North Korean vessels in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions.

The sanctioned vessels included Nam Dae Bong, New Konk, Unica, Xing Ming Yang, Gold Star and Athena, said the Foreign Ministry in Seoul.

“The vessels designated this time have all been involved in activities such as transshipment with North Korean vessels, smuggling of refined oil and coal in and out of North Korea and delivering used ships to North Korea,” said the ministry in a statement on Wednesday, adding that all of these acts violated multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

The North was found to have smuggled in 780,000 barrels of refined oil annually as of last year, which was 1.5 times higher than the cap set by the UN Security Council on the North, according to a report by the panel of experts to the council's sanctions committee on North Korea.

“As our first unilateral sanctions on vessels engaging with the North in eight years, these measures demonstrate our strong will to discourage the illegal nuclear and missile development of North Korea by cutting off its continued illegal procurement of funds and materials through the sea,” said the Foreign Ministry.

Two individuals and three organizations tied to the illegal transshipments with the North were also sanctioned this time.

The individuals were Pak Kyong-ran and Min Myong-hak, who engaged in the illegal smuggling of refined oil into North Korea and assisted with smuggling out North Korean workers, said the Foreign Ministry.

The sanctioned organizations were Mangang, Risang and Yua trading companies, which engaged in the illegal transshipment of goods at sea with North Korea.

It was the 15th unilateral sanction on the North by the Yoon Suk Yeol government, which altogether has sanctioned a total of 85 individuals and 56 institutions as of Wednesday.

Any Korean entity wishing to engage with sanctioned individuals or organizations for financial transactions will need the approval of the Bank of Korea or the Financial Services Commission.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]