North Korea: cargo ships tracked in Chinese waters after UN imposes all-ports ban for violating sanctions
Marine tracking website showed three of the four ships facing port ban in Chinese waters
The UN Security Council has banned all nations from allowing four ships that transported prohibited goods to and from North Korea to enter any port in their country.
Hugh Griffiths, head of the panel of experts investigating the implementation of UN sanctions against North Korea, announced the port bans at a briefing to UN member states on Monday. A North Korean diplomat attended the hour-long session.
Griffiths later told several reporters that “this is the first time in UN history” that the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against Pyongyang has prohibited ships from entering all ports.
He identified the four cargo ships as the Petrel 8, Hao Fan 6, Tong San 2 and Jie Shun.
According to MarineTraffic, a maritime database that monitors vessels and their moments, Petrel 8 is registered in Comoros, Hao Fan 6 in St Kitts and Nevis, and Tong San 2 in North Korea. It does not list the flag of Tong San 2 but said that on October 3 it was in the Bohai Sea off north China.
On Tuesday according to MarineTraffic, the last known port and destination of each ship was: