North Korean cargo ships crowd Russia’s Nakhodka amid coal, arms suspicions
Last month, North Korean cargo ships repeatedly went in and out of the Russian Far East’s Nakhodka port. Because many were spotted around coal terminals and sanctioned vessels were among them, suspicions are being raised that trades are taking place to conceal the origin of North Korean coal. According to U.S.-based North Korea–focused outlet NK ...
North Korean cargo ships have been repeatedly visiting Russia's Nakhodka port, raising suspicions of concealed trade activities involving North Korean coal. According to NK News, at least 13 North Korean ships made 14 visits to Nakhodka in October alone, with 14 visits through early November. This is significantly fewer than the 33 visits recorded last year.
The ships included sanctioned vessels such as Bukdaebong, Deokseong, and Geumseong 7. Experts speculate that the increased traffic could be due to North Korea attempting to hide the origin of its coal, trading it for Russian goods like weapons or grain, or even manipulating Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals to conceal their true locations.
Written by urgent.news from Hellenic Shipping News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
