UN allows Seoul to release 2 ships illegally transferring oil to North Korea

The United Nations Sanctions Committee (UNSC) on Tuesday allowed South Korea to release two ships detained for illegal ship-to-ship transfer of petroleum products to North Korea. The South Korean Foreign Ministry, in a statement, said that the UN approved the discharge of Hong Kong-flagged Lighthouse Winmore and the South Korean P-Pioneer, Yonhap agency reported.

The Lighthouse Winmore had been detained in the southern port of Yeosu since November 24, 2017, and the P-Pioneer was moved to the Busan port on September 4, 2018. The decision was taken under the condition that the Lighthouse Winmore will not engage in illegal ship-to-ship transfer in the future. In addition, the operator of the P-Pioneer agreed to keep its tracking system on all times and will submit its shipping course log at Seoul's request.

Two other ships, namely, the now stateless Koti and Talent Ace, are said to be still under review. The government is seeking to demolish them, as their breaches of sanctions were deliberated upon, sources familiar with the matter were quoted as saying. Detained on suspicion of illegally moving petroleum products to North Korea, the Koti was grounded in Pyeongtaek in December 2017, and the Talent Ace has been held in Gunsan since January 2018.

The UNSC adopted additional sanctions resolutions on North Korea in late 2017 following Pyongyang's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile in November then. Resolution 2397 allows a country to capture and look into a vessel suspected of engaging in illegal activities with North Korea and imposes a blanket ban on the overseas sales of North Korean coal, iron ore and other mineral resources.

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