Firms caught importing iron, coal from N. Korea

Clandestine cargo: The deputy commissioner of South Korea’s Customs Service Roh Suk-hwan explaining how the coal and iron were and transported, at the government complex in Daejeon, South Korea. — AP

Seoul: Three South Korean firms were caught importing coal and iron from the North last year, Seoul said, in an apparent violation of UN sanctions imposed in August 2017 on the nuclear-armed state.

More than 35,000 tonnes of North Korean coal and iron worth 6.6 billion won (RM23.8mil) were imported into the South between April and October last year, the Korea Customs Service said yesterday.

In addition to breaking South Korean law, some of the shipments were likely to be in breach of UN resolutions as well, with the customs service, warning that “any ships that are believed to have violated UN sanctions will be impounded or banned from entering South Korean ports”.

In a complex process spanning three countries, coal shipments were first sent to Russia, where their details were disguised using forged “country of origin” documents, and then reloaded on ships bound for the South, the customs office said in a statement that followed a 10-month investigation by the authorities.

In another case, black coal imported from North Korea was transferred to the Russian port of Kholmsk, where it was “disguised as semi-coking coal that does not need country of origin documents”, before being reloaded on ships heading to the South, the customs office said. — AFP