The Wall Street Journal:
The Philippines has moved quickly to put into effect new United Nations’ sanctions on North Korea by seizing a cargo ship owned by Pyongyang.
The ship, the Jin Teng, arrived on Friday at Subic Bay, a port northwest of Manila. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Armand Balilo said on Sunday the ship had been impounded and its 21 North Korean crew members would be deported.
Tighter restrictions on North Korea’s cargo operations are a key part of the U.N. sanctions approved last week that aim to block the nation’s development of nuclear weapons. The sanctions resolution requires all cargo going to or coming from North Korea, by air, land or sea, to be inspected for arms or other prohibited items.
Previous U.N. resolutions only required member states to inspect cargo if they had suspicions that illicit goods were contained in the shipment.
In another step to crack down on North Korea’s arms trade, the new U.N. sanctions ban 31 vessels owned by Pyongyang-based Ocean Maritime Management Co., including the Jin Teng, from international ports.
OMM was blacklisted by the U.N. in 2014 after one of its ships was found during an inspection in Panama to be carrying jet fighters and other Soviet-era weapons from Cuba hidden under bags of sugar. At that time the U.N.’s sanctions committee said OMM “played a key role in arranging the shipment of the concealed cargo of arms.”
Initial inspections of the Jin Teng, which was carrying a cargo of palm-kernel expeller, an animal feed, didn’t find any suspicious materials, Mr. Balilo said. Coast guard personnel found only minor problems with the ship such as broken lights, he said.
Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said the government had reported the actions it has so far taken to the U.N. and further actions would be undertaken in consultation with the world body.
The ship is likely to be inspected by a U.N. panel of experts responsible for monitoring the implementation of sanctions on North Korea. The panel has been looking into another North Korean cargo ship held in Mexico after it ran aground there in July 2014.
