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Three South Korean firms imported coal from North Korea disguised as Russian products in violation of U.N. sanctions, South Korea's customs agency said on Friday.
South Korea has been examining nine cases of potential imports of North Korean coal, which would breach a resolution passed last August by the U.N. Security Council to choke off funding for Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
The South and North Korean leaders will hold high-level talks on Monday to review the decisions taken during a meeting on April 27, according to local news agency Yonhap.The summit between officials from South and North Korea will take place in the Joint Security Area of Panmunjom in the South, also known as the truce village, where the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement that paused the Korean War was signed.North Korea urges US to relent on peace treaty stanceThe South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-Gyon said the preparations for a new summit between South and North Korean leaders will also be discussed during the meeting.On April 27, the leaders of North and South Korea agreed to a “complete denuclearization” and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.The deal followed a historic bilateral summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Panmunjom.
Koreas to hold high-level talks on Monday
South Korean lawmaker Yoo Ki-june on Tuesday called on the government to take action against a ship suspected of violating United Nations sanctions by transporting coal from North Korea.The Belize-flagged vessel is apparently at a South Korean port but is scheduled to leave on Wednesday night.It is claimed the ship arrived in Pohang from Nakhodka in Russia on Saturday along with 5,100 tons of North Korean coal, which would be banned under a UN resolution passed last year in response to Pyongyang's repeated nuclear provocations.Yoo, a conservative politician, said the South's liberal government "should immediately implement necessary steps under the U.N. sanctions," according to local news agency Yonhap.North Korea releases South Korean man detained in JulyHe added that the vessel in question has been to South Korea 20 times since last October.Following criticism that Seoul might have been turning a blind eye in order to gain political capital with Pyongyang, an official from Seoul's Foreign Ministry revealed this week that nine possible North Korean coal shipments are already being investigated.The South is obligated to seize and probe any vessel suspected of violating sanctions, while the United States has made it clear it will take a dim view of any nation enabling North Korea to get around denuclearization efforts.However, Seoul later insisted that the latest Pohang shipment under scrutiny was just Russian coal."There has been no confirmation of a violation of the (UN) Security Council resolution in an inspection of the ship by related authorities," Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk said at a news conference.
South Korean lawmaker raises alarm on North’s coal
The customs service did not specify the number of ships or identify the companies involved, but said 35,0000 tons of coal was brought into South Korea in seven instances since October.
It said it would press charges against the firms involved.