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Another analysis found that North Korea made a huge amount of revenue estimated at 400 billion won for the third quarter of this year through the export of coal banned by UN sanctions.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the seventh (local time) that North Korean ships have shipped coal directly to Ningbo-Zhoushan, China hundreds of times, according to interviews with senior US State Department officials and satellite images. provided by the Department of State. It was reported that he was taken away.
Meanwhile, North Korea has used various sanction evasion techniques, such as transshipment from sea to ‘ship to ship’ or mobilizing foreign ships, as well as frequently changing the ship’s name and disabling the automatic identification system. ships (AIS) to avoid surveillance by UN member states. . This is because the UN Security Council banned North Korea’s coal exports in 2017.
However, a satellite image taken on August 12, provided by the State Department to the WSJ, showed a scene of several ships carrying North Korean flags and coals moving near Ningbo-Zhoushan.
China also does not hide the violation of sanctions against North Korea, the newspaper said. The State Department satellite image from June 19 also shows a Chinese-flagged barge loading coal in the port of Nampo, North Korea.
A senior State Department official told the WSJ that he “does not specifically disguise or hide.” “North Korea is no longer trying to avoid sanctions surveillance. Direct transportation from North Korea to China is the first big change we’ve seen since the sanctions were adopted in 2017.” Said.
The Interim Report of the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee’s Panel of Experts on North Korea, which was released on September 28 (local time), contained the actual conditions and methods to avoid sanctions in North Korea. .
As in previous years, it appears that North Korea can cut costs and increase exports by secretly moving to Tonkin Bay, near Vietnam, and skipping the complicated procedure of transshipping coal to China by sea with another ship.
The U.S. government estimates that North Korea exported 4.1 million metric tons of coal from January to September this year, WSJ said.
This is about a fifth of the similar period before the UN Security Council sanctions on coal exports in 2017, a US government official said. However, the US government knows that North Korea’s coal exports have increased significantly since the beginning of the UN sanctions.
WSJ estimates North Korea’s coal exports this year to be in the range of $ 330 million to $ 410 million (about $ 355.8 to $ 4.455 billion), assuming the coal sold between $ 80 to $ 100 a ton. .
In particular, these coal exports may be more significant as North Korea has closed its land border with China due to the new coronavirus infection pandemic (Corona 19).
In addition, the US government believes that China continued to employ 20,000 North Korean workers and illegally imported North Korean seafood and machinery in addition to coal.
Regarding the violation of China’s sanctions and active aid to North Korea, former vice chairman of the six-party talks, Joseph Ditrani, told the WSJ: “I think China is concerned about the stability of North Korea.” . “Let’s see if we can continue to ease sanctions against North Korea until there is progress towards solving the North Korean nuclear problem.”
The increase in illegal trade between North Korea and China will be a special challenge for the next US administration, which Joe Biden will start his term early next year, WSJ said.
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