Hong Kong ship crew questioned in SKorea

SEOUL: The crew of a Hong Kongregistered ship have been detained for questioning in South Korea since their tanker was impounded in November for transferring oil to a North Korean vessel and breach said Saturday.

The Lighthouse Winmore, which was chartered by a Taiwanese company, was impounded by South Korean customs authorities at the port of Yeosu on November 24 following an inspection.

“Since then, inspectors have been coming on board and questioning the crew”, a Korea Cus- France-Presse.

The Lighthouse Winmore has 25 crewmembers including 23 mainland Chinese citizens and two Myanmar nationals, another customs official at Yeosu said.

The tanker, chartered by Taiwanese company Billions Bunker Group Corp., previously visited Yeosu on October 11 and loaded up on some 14,000 tons of Japanese refined oil before heading towards its purported destination in Taiwan.

Instead of going to Taiwan, however, the vessel transferred 600 tons of oil to the North’s Sam Jong 2 in international waters off China before returning to Yeosu, the customs service officials said.

in Seoul had said the ship had been seized briefly by customs authorities who inspected it.

Results of the investigation will be reported to the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee,

The Lighthouse Winmore is one of 10 ships the US has asked the Security Council to blacklist for violating sanctions against North Korea.

Taipei said the Billions Bunker Group is not incorporated in Taiwan but in the Marshall Islands, and that it would “continue to fully comply” with UN sanctions against North Korea.

Taiwan’s transport ministry said it is investigating whether any Taiwanese entities were involved.

The ship is owned by a Hong Kong-registered company called Win More Shipping Limited. There was nobody Friday at the address companies registry.