South Korea seizes ship suspected of transferring oil to North at sea: officials
SOUTH Korea has seized a Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker accused of transferring 600 tonnes of refined oil to a North Korean ship in October in violation of United Nations sanctions, South Korean officials said on Friday.
Officials revealed that they had impounded the 11,253tonne tanker, the Lighthouse Winmore, and questioned its crew. The revelation came a day after President Donald Trump accused China of letting fuel oil flow into North Korea through illicit ship-to-ship transfers on international waters.
There was no immediate evidence of official Chinese involvement in the Lighthouse Winmore’s dealings with the North Koreans.
The registered owner of the ship is a Hong Kong company called Win More Shipping. The only director of that company is Gong Ruiqiang, who lives in Guangzhou, China, according to Hong Kong corporate filings. The ship was being leased by a Taiwanese company, South Korean Foreign Ministry officials told reporters on Friday.
The Lighthouse Winmore docked at the South Korean port of Yeosu on October 11 to load 14,039 tonnes of refined petroleum from Japan, they said. Four days later, it departed Yeosu, saying it was headed for Taiwan. Instead, it transferred the refined oil to four other ships in international waters, including 600 tonnes transferred to the North Korean ship Sam Jong 2 on October 19, officials said.
A similar ship-to-ship transfer involving another North Korean ship, Rye Song Gang 1, was captured in satellite photos released by the US Treasury Department on November 21, although the department did not release the name of the other ship involved in the high-seas transaction.
South Korean authorities boarded the Lighthouse Winmore and questioned its crew members when they returned to Yeosu on November 24. The ship was formally impounded by South Korea after the UN Security Council passed a resolution December 22 requiring member countries to inspect and impound any vessel in their ports that was believed to have been used for prohibited activities with North Korea.
Under those sanctions, countries cannot export over a half million barrels of refined petroleum products, an 89 percent cut from previous annual shipments, and 4 million barrels of crude oil in total per year to North Korea. They are required to report their oil shipments to the North so that the Security Council can keep a real-time update of the aggregate amount and determine whether the caps have been reached.
The Security Council has also banned ship-to-ship transfers of oil on the high seas .
The Lighthouse Winmore remains in South Korean custody, officials said on Friday. Its 25 crewmen – 23 Chinese citizens and two men from Myanmar – will be allowed to leave after the investigation is over.
Word of the seizure emerged after Trump used a post on Twitter and an interview with the New York Times to accuse China of letting oil flow into North Korea in defiance of UN sanctions, warning that there will be no “friendly solution” until the flow stops.
Trump’s accusation came amid deepening suspicions in Washington and among its allies that Chinese oil tankers were se- RyeSongGang1 cretly transferring petroleum to North Korean ships on the high seas. China insists there was no sanctions violation.
“Caught RED HANDED – very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea,” Trump wrote in a Twitter post on Thursday. “There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!”
The UN Security Council has ramped up its efforts to squeeze oil supplies for North Korea after the country conducted its sixth nuclear test September 3 and followed it with the launching of an intercontinental ballistic missile November 29.
When it blacklisted several Chinese trading companies and North Korean shipping companies and their vessels in November, the US Treasury Department said that North Korea was “known to employ deceptive shipping practices, including ship-to-ship transfers”.
Trump’s criticism of China came after the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, quoting anonymous sources, reported that US spy satellites had spotted 30 ship-to-ship transfers of oil and other products since October in international waters between North Korea and China.
The report said the “smuggling” took place between North Korean vessels and ships believed to be from China.
In its latest sanctions, adopted December 22, the Security Council was concerned that North Korea was “illicitly exporting coal and other prohibited items through deceptive maritime practices and obtaining petroleum illegally through ship-to-ship transfers”.
Washington has asked the Security Council to blacklist 10 ships – including the Lighthouse Winmore, the Sam Jong 2 and the Rye Song Gang 1 – for circumventing sanctions by conducting ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum products to North Korean vessels or transporting North Korean coal, Reuters reported, citing UN documents.
On Thursday, the Security Council did add four ships – Billions No18, Ul Ji Bong 6, Rung Ra 2, and Rye Song Gang 1 – to a list of vessels banned from port entry in UN member countries LighthouseWinmore. for transporting prohibited goods to North Korea. All operate under a North Korean flag, except for Billions No18, which is registered to Palau.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry refused to confirm the Chosun Ilbo report, saying that the matter was being discussed at the Security Council’s sanctions committee.
But Chinese officials disputed the news media reports.
Ren Guoqiang, a spokesman for the Chinese Defence Ministry, was more categorical in denial: “The situation you have mentioned absolutely does not exist,” he said on Thursday.
Panamanian vessel seized
Meanwhile, a report said yesterday that South Korea has seized a Panama-flagged ship suspected of also transferring oil products to North Korea in breach of UN sanctions.
The 5,100-tonne KOTI was detained two weeks ago at the South’s port of PyeongtaekDangjin and its crew are being investigated over the alleged ship-to-ship transfers, Yonhap news agency cited local maritime officials as saying.
The Panamanian tanker was banned from leaving port after a government meeting on December 21, the report said. Its crew – mostly from Myanmar and China – were being questioned by the customs office and the intelligence agency.