US to seek UN sanctions on ships taking North Korean coal to China

8/5/2025 6:03

The United States said on Wednesday it

plans to call for U.N. sanctions against vessels identified as

taking part in circumvention of United Nations resolutions to

combat North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.



The British-based Open Source Center issued a report on

Wednesday saying that in the past year it had tracked a number

of non-Korean flagged vessels transporting North Korean coal and

iron ore to ports in China, in violation of U.N. sanctions.



Speaking at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, James

Byrne, director of the Open Source Network, identified several

vessels, including the Tanzanian-flagged Armani and Sophia, the

falsely-flagged Cartier and Casio, and the unflagged Yi Li 1 and

An Yu.



Byrne said the vessels had started engaging in sophisticated

"spoofing" techniques, such as by presenting digital tracks to

indicate they were in other countries, when satellite imagery

showed them loading in North Korea.



U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Camille Shea said the

Security Council would continue to highlight sanctions

violations despite Russia's veto last year of the mandate of the

panel of experts that monitored such violations on behalf of the

U.N.'s 1718 Committee on North Korea.



"In the coming days, we plan to nominate for designation in

the 1718 Committee vessels clearly identified in the briefing to

which Mr. Byrne referred for violations of U.N. sanctions

restrictions," she said.



Shea accused Russia of "cynically obstructing" sanctions

implementation, including though importation of North Korean

missiles and shells for use in its war in Ukraine.



She accused Chinese authorities of "looking the other way"

as Chinese companies import North Korean coal and iron ore, even

though Beijing insists it fully implements the U.N. resolutions.



Geng Shuang, China's deputy U.N. ambassador, said China

rejected U.S. "accusations and smearing" and charged that

Washington was using the North Korea issue as a pretext for

strategic military deployments that jeopardized the security

interests of regional countries, including China.



Russian U.N. ambassador Vasily Nebenzya dismissed criticism

of its relationship and cooperation with North Korea, saying it

was Moscow's sovereign right and that Russia was "very grateful

to our Korean brothers for the assistance they've extended to

us."



North Korea's U.N. ambassador Kim Song accused the United

States of "high-handedness and arbitrariness" that should not be

tolerated by the international community.