A ship heading from the DPRK to the Russian Federation was detained in South Korea

The South Korean coast guard detained a cargo ship DEYI without state affiliation near the coast of Yeosu, which was heading from North Korea through China to Russia, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Wednesday, April 3, citing sources in the security services.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry confirmed it was investigating the ship in cooperation with the United States into possible sanctions violations by the ship, but declined to comment further.

It is indicated that the incident occurred approximately March 30 and was associated with suspicions of violation of UN Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang. There were 13 people on board the cargo ship with a displacement of 3,000 tons: the captain was a Chinese citizen, as well as crew members who were citizens of Indonesia and China.

After the crew refused to comply with the order to stop, the South Korean coast guard moved the ship to a dock in the port of Busan. According to Yonhap, it is currently unknown whether the ship actually violated the sanctions, since the crew refused to open the hold and allow the cargo being transported to be checked.

UN Resolution 2397, adopted in 2017, allows states to stop, inspect and confiscate any ship in their territorial waters if it is suspected of prohibited activities related to North Korea.

South Korean sanctions against companies and individuals from the Russian Federation

On April 3, South Korea imposed sanctions against two Russian individuals and two legal entities who, according to Seoul, contributed to “financing the DPRK’s nuclear and missile programs” by attracting North Korean specialists to work in Russia.

In addition, sanctions were imposed on two Russian vessels – Angara and Lady R. Seoul claims that they participated in the “transportation of military cargo between Russia and North Korea” in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

At the end of March, Russia vetoed an extension of the mandate of the UN sanctions monitoring group imposed on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.