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asia policy
are the vessels Cheyenne (IMO 9706504) and Ryong Rim (IMO 8018912) that
left the Japanese ports of Kashima and Yokohama, respectively, in early May
2016. Dailan, Bayuquan, Tianjin, Jingtang, and Lianyungang are all Chinese
ports from which vessels have departed for the DPRK. Yet despite the number
of ships arriving from Chinese ports, no Chinese-flagged vessels were found
to have entered DPRK ports during the period of time examined. Rather,
nineteen ships were flagged under the DPRK, six were flagged under Panama
colors, six were flying Tanzanian flags, four were flagged in Russia, and four
carried Mongolian colors. Other arriving vessels were flagged in Jamaica,
Liberia, India, Togo, Taiwan, the Bahamas, and Cambodia. No data on the
cargo the ships carried is publicly available.
While some vessels are linked to the regime or connected to offshore
capital, some are not and instead rely on misleading travel plans,
misidentification, or false registries. The Voge Challenger (IMO 9490454), a
Liberian-flagged vessel owned by TSC Ship Management out of Hamburg,
traveled from Bahia Blanca, Argentina, to Sinpo, North Korea, on April 16,
2016. On June 18, it left Vancouver, Canada, broadcasting its destination
as Port Qasim in Pakistan. AIS tracking confirmed the ship’s anchorage 38
days later in Port Qasim for a twelve-hour period on August 3. However, the
tracking information also shows that the vessel stopped in Sinpo between
July 17 and July 26, which constitutes a sanctions violation under Canadian
and European law. According to Canadian law, vessels cannot leave Canadian
ports carrying goods destined for the DPRK, while the EU prohibits companies
from insuring, owning, or managing vessels trading with the DPRK.
Other ships entering North Korean waters may have violated regional
regulations, including those imposed by China and South Korea. In March
2016, Japanese media reported that China banned DPRK-flagged vessels
from entering six of its ports. 38 The DPRK-flagged vessel Su Song, formerly the
Sun Orion (IMO 9024889), entered the port of Weifang, one of the allegedly
banned Chinese ports, on July 19, 2016. Chinese authorities later denied
that the ports were given instructions to prohibit DPRK-flagged vessels. 39
The vessel Chon Un 68 (IMO 9001021) is a Tanzanian-flagged cargo ship with
a capacity of four thousand tons. AIS tracking shows that on July 10, 2016,
the vessel docked at Nampo port, and on July 18 it was docked at Weifang.
38 Takuya Hiraga, “China Expands Embargo on North Korea Vessels to 6 Ports,” Asahi Shimbun,
March 22, 2016 u http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201603220043.html.
39 “China Denies Reports of Entry Ban on All North Korean Vessels,” Yonhap, March 23, 2016
u http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2016/03/23/0200000000AEN20160323008200315.
html?92265450.
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