[VOA 뉴스] North Korea’s West Sea “Chinese fishing vessel” appeared… Pay attention to the presence of a “sanctions violation”

Chinese fishing boats have begun to be spotted off North Korea’s west coast. The focus is on the background of the reappearance of Chinese fishing vessels in North Korean waters in a situation in which suspicions about the trade in fishing rights between North Korea and China, prohibited by United Nations Security Council resolutions adopted following the development North Korea’s nuclear and missile weapons, continue to rise. This was reported by journalist Ham Ji-ha. (Video Editing: Lee Sang-hoon)

This is a “marine traffic” map showing real-time vessel position information.

At around 13:00 on the 25th Korean Peninsula Time, a Chinese fishing vessel “Liao Da Lieutenant 15031” can be seen about 21 km west of Nampo, where the North Korean West Sea and Daedong River meet.

It is a medium-sized vessel with a length of 28 meters and a beam of 5 meters, and Marine Traffic has marked it as a “fishing boat”.

Marine Traffic has registered about 300 vessels under different numbers associated with the name “Lieutenant Liao Da”, all fishing vessels flying the Chinese flag.

In general, fishing vessels that enter waters near the Korean Peninsula do not reveal their location information, but for some reason, Lt. Liao Da No. 15031 exposed location information through the MMSI Marine Service Identification Number and how many vessels were operating in this sea area.

The question is whether the sanctions against North Korea have been violated. A group of experts of the United Nations Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea highlighted the past issue of trade in fishing rights between North Korea and China and paid attention to the current situation of foreign fishing vessels enter North Korean waters.

The United Nations Security Council prohibits North Korea from selling or transferring fishing rights to other UN member states. However, it has been pointed out that Chinese fishing vessels buy fishing rights from North Korea every year to operate, and North Korea is earning hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign exchange earnings every year through this.

In the annual report published in March, the expert group found that at least 428 fishing vessels were found in North Korean waters between April and June last year and, in particular, the first port of departure of these vessels was identified in Shandong and the Liaoning, China, raising suspicions of fishing rights trading between North Korea and China.

According to the Panel, the number of fishing vessels that entered North Korean waters after the adoption of the UN Security Council resolution following North Korea’s nuclear and missile development was 2,611 in 2018, 1,882 in 2019 and 2,389 in 2220. It is understood that an average of more than 2,000 vessels entered North Korean waters each year.

This is VOA News Hamjiha.