Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on the 1st (local time) that Russia supplied 15,279 barrels of refined oil to North Korea in January of this year.
The broadcast reported this by citing data posted on the website of the UN Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions Committee.
Russia reported to the Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions Committee that it had exported more than twice as much refined oil to North Korea as the 6,591 barrels in December last year.
The amount of refined oil support in January was the second largest after last January (44,000 barrels), which was the largest since December 2022 when supplies to North Korea that had been suspended due to COVID-19 were resumed.
The broadcast introduced that since this figure represents only the refined oil officially reported, experts from the North Korea Sanctions Committee and others believe that the actual amount entering North Korea is much higher.
In an interim report released last year, the North Korea Sanctions Committee expert group estimated that from January to May 1 of that year, about 780,000 barrels of refined oil, 1.5 times the annual limit, were brought into North Korea through ports such as Nampo Port.
Neil Watts, who served as a maritime expert in the North Korea Sanctions Committee expert group from 2013 to 2018, said, “The fact that Russia voluntarily reports the amount of refined oil supplied to North Korea in accordance with the agreement should be viewed favorably,” but added, “The refined oil that Russia illegally supplied to North Korea “I don’t know how much,” he said.
Watts added, “The key is to determine whether Russia provided more than the annual limit of refined oil to North Korea through information provided by reconnaissance assets against North Korea,” adding, “But securing such evidence is always difficult.”
In Resolution 2397 on North Korea adopted in 2017, the UN Security Council limited North Korea’s refined oil imports to 500,000 barrels per year and required countries that supplied refined oil to report their supply by the 30th of each month.
Meanwhile, China, which supplies refined oil to North Korea along with Russia, has not yet reported the amount of refined oil supplied to North Korea in December and January of last year.
In 2023, China reported to the United Nations that it supplied 220,000 barrels of refined oil to North Korea. This is approximately twice the supply in 2022.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.