The United States has for the first time seized a North Korean cargo ship it accused of illicit coal shipments in violation of US and United Nations sanctions, the US Justice Department announced yesterday.
The ship, known as the “Wise Honest”, was first detained by Indonesia in April 2018.
Under an unusual US civil forfeiture action, the vessel is now in the possession of the United States and is currently approaching US territorial waters, a Justice Department official said.
The announcement comes after North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range missiles yesterday, its second such test in less than a week and an apparent protest by leader Kim Jong-un after US President Donald Trump rejected his calls for sanctions relief at a summit in February (see page 7).
The Justice Department said in a statement that the Wise Honest was used by Korea Songi Shipping Company, which it accused of paying US dollars through unwitting US financial institutions – in violation of US laws – for improvements, equipment purchases, and service expenditures for the vessel.
“Payments totalling more than $750,000 were transmitted through accounts at a US financial institution in connection with the March 2018 shipment of coal on board the Wise Honest,” the statement said.
The North Korean mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The UN Security Council has unanimously strengthened sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke funding for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, banning exports including coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood, and capping imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products.
However, UN sanctions monitors reported to the council in March that Pyongyang continues to defy the measures “through a massive increase in illegal ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products and coal”.
The 17,000-tonne Wise Honest, which also was used to deliver heavy machinery to North Korea, is one of the Pyongyang’s largest bulk carriers, the US Justice Department said.
“This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service,” John Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a statement.
According to UN sanctions monitors, the Wise Honest was transporting 25,500 tonnes of coal when it was detained by Indonesia in April 2018.
The March UN report estimated that the value of the ship’s coal cargo was around $3mn.
The monitors said Indonesia reported the ship was registered under both the flags of Sierra Leone and North Korea and that it had found “cargo documents and clearance received from a Russian cargo ship intending to conduct an STS (ship-to-ship) transfer” in waters off the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan.
Russia has repeatedly denied violating UN sanctions on North Korea.
This undated image released by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, shows the vessel ‘Wise Honest’.
