South Korea’s foreign ministry says the country has seized a Hong Kong-flagged ship that transferred oil to a North Korean vessel in international waters despite United Nations Security Council sanctions.

Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, reports South Korean custom officials say the Lighthouse Winmore vessel transferred “600 tons of refined petroleum” to a North Korean ship October 19. South Korea seized the Lighthouse Winmore on November 24 when it sailed into South Korea’s Yeosu Port, the news agency says.

Yonhap reports the Lighthouse Winmore was chartered by the Billions Bunker Group, a Taiwanese company. The news agency said the ship’s “claimed destination” was in Taiwan, but instead the ship “transferred oil to a North Korean ship, Sam Jong 2, and three other non-North Korean vessels in international waters in the East China Sea.”

The Lighthouse Winmore is reportedly on the list of ships the U.S. has proposed blacklisting for their prohibited trade with North Korea.

Yonhap reported that South Korea informed the U.S. about its “detection of the illegal transaction.”

Trump accusations

U.S. President Donald Trump accused China Thursday of facilitating oil shipments into North Korea, despite China’s insistence it has not violated United Nations sanctions limiting oil shipments to the rogue nation.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, on Friday again denied any Chinese involvement in smuggling goods into or out of North Korea.

A South Korean newspaper reported earlier Thursday that Chinese and North Korean ships had illicitly connected at sea to get oil into North Korea.

Latest UN sanctions

The U.N. Security Council last week imposed new sanctions designed to limit North Korea access to oil in response to the country’s recent long-range missile test. In November, it test-launched its latest intercontinental ballistic missile, which many U.S. experts have warned would be capable of striking anywhere on U.S. soil.

The sanctions seek to bar 90 percent of refined oil exports to North Korea by capping them at 500,000 barrels a year and limit crude oil exports at 4 million barrels annually.

China has repeatedly said it is enforcing all resolutions against Pyongyang, despite doubts in the U.S., South Korea and Japan that loopholes continue to exist.

When asked at a recent media briefing whether Chinese ships were illegally loading oil on North Korean vessels, Defense Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang repeated that China and its military are strictly enforcing U.N. resolutions on North Korea.

“The situation you have mentioned absolutely does not exist,” Ren said.
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