North Korean company caught shipping Soviet fighter jets from Cuba tried to evade UN sanctions

TomoNews US 2015-04-14

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According to a United Nations report, a North Korean company has been relabeling its vessels in order to evade sanctions.

One North Korean shipping company, Ocean Maritime Management, or OMM, renamed 13 of its 14 ships and tried to hide the ships from the UN’s blacklist database by transferring the ships’ ownership to shell companies.

In 2013, Chong Chon Gang, a ship owned by OMM, was found importing weapons from Cuba. Panamanian authorities seized the ship because of suspicions that the vessel was carrying drugs. Instead of drugs, authorities found two Soviet-era Cuban fighter jets, several missiles, command and control vehicles, and various other weapons under the vessel’s cargo of sugar. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, OMM instructed its captain and crew to hide the weapons as well as provide false documentation to Panamanian authorities. The UN imposed a global asset freeze on OMM, blocking the company from operating in international waters.

To circumvent the asset freeze and sanctions, OMM changed its owners and managers. According to the UN report, 12 of the ships have been sighted near ports in several different countries since July 2013.

North Korea is under UN sanctions because of its nuclear weapons tests and ballistic missile launches. Pyongyang is banned from importing and exporting nuclear and missile technology as well as luxury goods. The UN panel’s 76-page report indicates that despite the strong sanctions, North Korea continues to be import and export nuclear and missile-related technologies through shell companies, various intermediaries and false labeling of shipping contents.

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