Inside the ‘shadow fleet’ industry that keeps rogue states afloat

A North Korean-linked oil tanker was tracked sailing under another country's flag in the East China Sea in April 2023. The ship suddenly stopped transmitting its location via the Automatic Identification System, causing it to vanish from global tracking screens.

Ten days later, the ship reappeared on tracking screens, reportedly off the coast of southern China, but was actually hundreds of kilometres away in a bay, preparing to deliver oil to North Korea in violation of UN sanctions.

According to Justin Hastings, a professor at the University of Sydney, North Korea uses various tactics to disguise the identities of its shadow ships. Hastings notes that the vastness of the oceans makes it difficult to locate ships that don't want to be found. Additionally, international law presumes that ships on the high seas won't be interfered with unless there are specific legal reasons, likening the situation to the "Wild West", a comparison also applied to other countries such as Russia and Iran by The Conversation AU.

Brief written by urgent.news from Asia Times, The Conversation AU — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.