China Fishing Boats May Breach North Korea Sanctions, Group Says
- Catch worth $560 million may provide hard currency for regime
- Beijing says it fulfils international sanctions obligations
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Hundreds of industrial fishing vessels originating from China have been detected in North Korean waters in recent years in one of the largest known cases of cross-national illegal fishing, new research by Global Fishing Watch shows.
Using a variety of ship detection methods, 700-900 vessels that set off from China annually from 2017 through 2019 were spotted fishing in North Korean waters, leading to an estimated $560 million catch likely to be in violation of United Nations sanctions since Sept. 2017, according to the global non-profit group, whose data has been used by the Food and Agriculture Organization.