MOSCOW (Reuters) - At least eight North Korean ships that left Russia with a cargo of fuel this year headed for their homeland despite declaring other destinations, a ploy that U.S. officials say is often used to undermine sanctions.
Reuters has no evidence of wrongdoing by the vessels, whose movements were recorded in Reuters ship-tracking data. Changing a ship’s destination once underway is not forbidden and it is unclear whether any of the ships unloaded fuel in North Korea.
But U.S. officials say that changing destination mid-voyage is a hallmark of North Korean state tactics to circumvent the international trade sanctions imposed over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
Changing course and the complex chain of different firms --many offshore -- involved in shipments can complicate efforts to check how much fuel is supplied to North Korea and monitor compliance with a cap on fuel imports under U.N. sanctions.
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WNU Editor: Reports of Russia breaking North Korean sanctions have been circulating a long time .... Russia Is Breaking UN Sanctions On North Korea (May 17, 2017). I have to also wonder if this is the reason why Russia made the Russia-North Korean border a no-go zone .... Kremlin Orders The Evacuation Of Citizens Away From The North Korean Border (August 30, 2017). By having no one around, no one would then be able to spot the trucks crossing into North Korea. Mind you .... the spy satellites would pick this up, but no one (Japan, South Korea, the U.S.) are saying anything about this.
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