An article and video report from the New York Times on 22 March saying that North Korea continues to illicitly import oil, in violation of strict international sanctions. It says that reporters across Asia spent 6 months tracking several of the tankers involved in some of these covert oil transfers, unravelling a murky corporate network that connects to a Singapore-headquartered major oil trader called the Winson Group. It centres on the movement of a single (sanctioned) tanker, which reveals the lack of sanctions enforcement. It criticises the opaque ownership structures seen in shipping, saying that it is not always easy to ascertain who’s behind the tankers involved in international oil deliveries. Shipping data often lists conflicting information. Many shipping companies also use private leasing agreements that are rarely captured on ship-tracking websites. Additionally, many companies that The Times investigated were registered in offshore, secrecy jurisdictions that mask ownership information. It also considers evasion techniques employed by ships.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/22/world/winson-north-korea-oil-tankers.html
If you would like to make a modest contribution for my time and ongoing expenses, I have a page, where contributions start as low as $3, at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/KoIvM842y
raytodd.blog 