The sanctions against six ships, 16 people and nine companies are part of an effort to pressure North Korea to renounce its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
The United States on Wednesday slapped sanctions on six North Korean ships, 16 individuals and nine companies that it said had facilitated Pyongyang’s weapons programs in a continuing effort to further isolate the regime.
The sanctions are a part of a strategy by the Trump administration to pressure North Korea into abandoning its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
Increasingly, the administration has been turning its attention to the smuggling going on despite a round of U. N. sanctions.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson attended a conference in Vancouver last week in which diplomats from 20 nations discussed ways to intensify pressure on North Korea, particularly by stopping ship-to-ship transfers in open water. The United States is trying to build support for its campaign to get nations to blacklist ships involved in smuggling goods to North Korea from any port in the world, and conduct maritime interdiction.
The sanctions were announced shortly after Japan said one of its spy planes had photographed a North Korean tanker that was likely to be violating sanctions by transferring cargo from one ship to another.
According to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, photos taken Saturday show the Rye Song Gang 1 pulling alongside a Dominican-flagged ship, the Yuk Tang, in the middle of the night. Shortly after the sun rose on Saturday morning, the two ships sailed away from each other.
“The government strongly suspects the two engaged in offshore delivery which was banned by U. N. Security Council resolutions,” the ministry said in a statement.
