Ocean Maritime Management News

The United Nations Security Council lifted North Korean sanctions on five ships after China secured assurances that the vessels would no longer use North Korean crews, a council diplomat said on Sunday. The ships were among 31 vessels sanctioned by the 15-member council on March 2 because they were linked to Ocean Maritime Management (OMM), a North Korean shipping firm known to transport arms and other illicit goods for the secretive state. A U.N. Security Council diplomat elaborated further on Sunday, saying that China had secured assurances that the vessels would no longer use North Korean crews and that was why the ships were removed from the blacklist. The Chinese mission to the United Nations was not immediately available to comment.

The United Nations Security Council said on Saturday it had lifted sanctions on five ships that were blacklisted in March for ties to North Korea's arms trade. The ships were among 31 vessels sanctioned by the 15-member council on March 2 because they were linked to Ocean Maritime Management (OMM), a North Korean shipping firm known to transport arms and other illicit goods for the secretive state. The ships removed from the blacklist are Dawnlight, Every Bright, Gold Star 3, Orion Star and South Hill 5. The Security Council listed the vessels as part of sweeping sanctions adopted in March, following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January. Just a few weeks later the council removed four ships from the list at China's request.

According to a Reuters report, the UN Security Council agreed to a Chinese request to remove sanctions on four ships that had been blacklisted for ties to Pyongyang after China secured assurances the vessels would not use North Korean crews. The ships were among 31 vessels sanctioned by the 15-member council on March 2 because they were owned by North Korean shipping firm Ocean Maritime Management Company (OMM). The four ships include the Jin Teng, a cargo ship detained by the Philippines days after the sanctions took effect. Chinese U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi said that the UN agency discovered that they were not OMM ships. The basis for the listing of the ships is basically that they belong to OMM, "so if you make a mistake then you correct the mistake," Liu Jieyi said. A U.S.

The Philippines said on Saturday it had seized a North Korean freighter that was covered by harsher United Nations' sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear programme. Manila will also deport the vessel's 21 North Korean crew and will await a U.N. inspection team from the United Nations, foreign ministry spokesman Charles Jose said in a text message. "In compliance with the United Nations resolution, the North Korean ship in Subic will be impounded and not allowed to leave port," he said. The 6,830 deadweight tonne (dwt) cargo ship Jin Teng was one of the first sanctioned North Korean ships to enter a foreign port since the tightened sanctions were passed unanimously by the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday. Thirty-one North Korean ships are on the list.

Chinese maritime authorities must "blacklist" 31 boats operated by a North Korean firm that came under U.N. Security Council sanctions this week, according to a Ministry of Transport document reviewed by Reuters - a signal that China is enforcing tough new curbs aimed at Pyongyang's banned nuclear program. The notice, dated March 3, says maritime safety agencies must "urgently" determine whether 31 vessels belonging to Ocean Maritime Management Co (OMM) are in Chinese harbors or waters, and notify the ministry. The latest U.N. sanctions, drafted by the United States and China, blacklist the vessels. The ministry's notice says authorities must not allow the vessels to enter Chinese harbors, adding the measures were part of the "exceedingly sensitive" work of enforcing the U.N. sanctions.

The Philippine coast guard inspected a North Korean cargo vessel that docked at a port northwest of Manila in one of the first such checks since the U.N. Security Council imposed further sanctions on Pyongyang over its nuclear program, reports AP. The 6,830 dwt general cargo ship Jin Teng is among 31 vessels that could be forced to stop trading after being included in an asset freeze against a North Korean shipping company under the tightened sanctions passed unanimously by the Security Council. The registered owner is Golden Soar Development, which has an address in Hong Kong's Tsim Sha Tsui tourist district, according to the Equasis shipping database hosted by the French transport ministry, although there was no telephone listing for the company.

A U.N.-blacklisted North Korean shipping company continues to evade sanctions through its use of foreign-flagged ships, name changes and other means of obfuscation, according to a new report by United Nations monitors. The U.N. Security Council's Panel of Experts on North Korea, which monitors implementation of sanctions on Pyongyang, also said the reclusive communist nation has continued to export ballistic-missile technology to the Middle East and ship arms and materiel to Africa in violation of U.N. restrictions. "Given the stated intentions of (North Korea), it continued efforts to enhance the scope of its nuclear and missile programs ...

Chinpo Shipping Company was fined a total of $180,000 on Friday (Jan 29) for transferring funds that could reasonably have been used to contribute to North Korea's nuclear programme and for running a remittance business without a valid licence. The company paid a Panamanian shipping agent $72,000 (£50,000) for the passage of North Korean ship the Chong Chon Gang through the Panama Canal. The arms shipment was hidden under more than 10,000 tonnes of sugar. The Chong Chon Gang was stopped while navigating the Panama Canal, by officials who suspected it was being used to smuggle drugs. "The haul, hidden under heaps of sugar and discovered by Panamanian authorities…

North Korean vessels owned by Ocean Maritime Management (OMM) have been seen using Russian ports, says the NK News vessel tracker. OMM was sanctioned for its involvement in smuggling weapons through the Panama Canal in 2013. While the vessel was seen visiting the Russian port of Vanino in early July, data from Marine Traffic and ship inspection records indicate the sanctioned Hui Chon (formerly the Hwan Gum San 2) is now a regular visitor to ports in the Russian far east. The Hui Chon was inspected six times in two different Russian ports since early July. Port inspections are usually to ascertain if a vessel is meeting safety and environmental standards. Earlier this month, the M/V Kang Gye was seen transiting back to North Korea after calling Port Nakhodka in Russia.

Singapore-based Senat Shipping said on Friday it had done nothing illegal and that it was unreasonable to be put on a U.S. sanctions list for alleged connection with a blacklisted North Korean shipping company. The U.S. Department of Treasury on Thursday listed Senat, arguing it had supported Ocean Maritime Management Company (OMMC), which had arranged an illegal shipment of arms on the Chong Chon Gang ship that was seized in Panama in 2013. The sanctions will also target Senat's president, Leonard Lai, and a company vessel, the department said. "The US Treasury's move to put Senat and Leonard Lai on the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) list is a misguided measure purely based on Senat's historical dealings with OMM," said the company in a statement emailed to Reuters.

The United States imposed sanctions on a Singapore-based shipping firm and its president, alleging they are supporting illicit arms imports into North Korea. The Treasury Department said that Senat Shipping Company was providing extensive support to Ocean Maritime Management Company (OMMC), a North Korean company that already was under sanctions. “Arms shipments transported by OMMC serve as a key resource for North Korea’s ongoing proliferation activities. Sales from these shipments contribute to North Korea’s other illicit programs,” Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam J. Szubin said in a statement. It also designated Senat's president, Leonard Lai, and identified as "blocked property" the "Dawnlight", a vessel owned by Senat.

Mexico's foreign ministry said on Thursday it is only holding a North Korean ship that ran aground in its waters last year in order to comply with United Nations rules. The 6,700-tonne freighter Mu Du Bong, which had come from Cuba, hit a reef near Tuxpan in Mexico's eastern Veracruz state in July last year. North Korea's Deputy U.N. Ambassador on Wednesday accused Mexico of illegally detaining the ship and crew, warning it would take "necessary measures" to release the vessel. In a statement explaining why it had not yet released the vessel, Mexico's foreign ministry said authorities had originally fined the ship's owners for the environmental damage it caused.

North Korea has accused Mexico of illegally holding one of its ships and warned it would take “necessary measures” to release the vessel. The 6,700-tonne freighter "Mu Du Bong," which had come from Cuba, ran aground on a reef, 13 kilometres northeast of Tuxpan in Mexico's Veracruz state. Satellite shipping data shows the ship is still in the port of Tuxpan. But the United Nations said that the ship, the Mu Du Bong, was owned by a North Korean company that was under United Nations sanctions and should be “frozen” and that the panel had received excellent cooperation from Mexico in tracking the company and its assets. "The Mu Du Bong is a peaceful merchant ship," North Korea's deputy representative An Myong Hun told reporters at the North Korean mission.

North Korea accused Mexico on Wednesday of illegally detaining one of its ships with some 50 crew and warned it would take "necessary measures" to release the vessel, which United Nations sanctions monitors say belongs to a blacklisted shipping firm. The 6,700-tonne freighter Mu Du Bong, which had come from Cuba, ran aground in July on a reef 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Tuxpan in Mexico's Veracruz state. Mexico said the ship remains in the port of Tuxpan. North Korea's Deputy UN Ambassador An Myong Hun told a small news conference on Wednesday that the Mu Du Bong was not linked to the blacklisted firm, Ocean Maritime Management Company, and therefore not subject to U.N. sanctions.

A North Korea shipping company has been renaming and reflagging its vessels so it can evade an arms embargo, a UN report has said. The effort by Pyongyang-headquartered Ocean Maritime Management Company, Ltd. is detailed in the report by a panel of experts that monitors sanctions on North Korea. The report makes clear the challenge of keeping banned arms and luxury goods from a nuclear-armed country with a history of using front companies to duck detection. North Korea is under United Nations sanctions because of its nuclear tests and missile launches. In addition to arms, Pyongyang is banned from importing and exporting nuclear and missile technology and is not allowed to import luxury goods.

Japan on Friday froze the assets of the operator of a North Korean ship seized for smuggling arms, the Foreign Ministry said, just as Tokyo is engaged in talks with Pyongyang to return Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents decades ago. The sanction against Ocean Maritime Management, which operated the ship detained near the Panama Canal a year ago carrying Soviet-era arms, follows similar steps by the United States and U.N. blacklisting of the North Korean firm in July. It is not immediately clear how much assets, if any, Ocean Maritime Management holds in Japan, the Finance Ministry said. North Korea in May agreed to reinvestigate the fate of Japanese citizens abducted by the reclusive state in the 1970s and 1980s.

The United States on Wednesday blacklisted two North Korean shipping firms, Chongchongang Shipping and Ocean Maritime Management, following a similar move by the United Nations. The United Nations on Monday said Ocean Maritime Management operated a ship detained a year ago near the Panama Canal for smuggling Soviet-era arms, raising concerns about Cuba's military cooperation with North Korea. The new sanctions, published on the Treasury Department's website, freeze any assets the companies may hold in the United States and prohibit people and firms in the United States from dealing with them. (Reporting by Anna Yukhananov; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)

The United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions on the North Korean shippers that operate the vessel Chong Chon Gang, seized by Panama in July 2013 for attempting to smuggle weapons from Cuba to North Korea. According to the UN, the shipping company, Ocean Maritime Management Company Limited, played a key role in arranging the shipment of concealed cargo of arms and related materiel from Cuba to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and as such attempted to evade established arms embargoes. Panamanian authorities reportedly stopped the vessel last year as it tried to enter the Panama Canal because they suspected that the vessel was smuggling drugs, but instead discovered two Cuban fighter jets, missiles and other live weapons beneath its cargo of sugar.

A U.N. Security Council committee on Monday blacklisted the operator of a North Korean ship, which was seized near the Panama Canal last year for smuggling Soviet-era arms, and raised concerns about Cuba's military cooperation with Pyongyang. The North Korea (DPRK) sanctions committee designated Ocean Maritime Management, which operated the Chong Chon Gang, the ship detained a year ago carrying arms, including two MiG-21 jet fighters, under thousands of tonnes of sugar. The company is now subject to an international asset freeze and travel ban. North Korea is under an array of United Nations and U.S. and other countries' sanctions for nuclear and ballistic missile tests since 2006 in defiance of global demands to stop.