North Korean Coal Shipped to South Korea in Sanctions Violation

The Korea Customs Service confirmed that some ships carried North Korean coal into South Korea last year, showing that Pyongyang had found ways to evade UN sanctions imposed over the country’s nuclear weapons program.

The coal shipments were disguised as having originated from Russia even though they were from North Korea, a customs service official told a briefing Friday in Daejeon, South Korea. The United Nations Security Council imposed three rounds of sanctions last year, including bans on North Korean exports of iron, coal, lead, seafood, textiles, as well as some oil-import restrictions.