The US Treasury has imposed sanctions two Chinese shipping companies, Dalian Haibo, International Freight Co and Liaoning Danxing International Forwarding Co, over claims they helped North Korea evade international sanctions, Reuters reports.
The firms are suspected of aiding North Korea evade US and international sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme, the first such steps since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s summit last month, reported Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post.
The US Treasury also issued an updated advisory that listed 67 vessels that have engaged in illicit transfers of refined petroleum with North Korean tankers or were believed to have exported North Korean coal.
This prohibits US dealings with the designated companies and freezes any assets they have in the United States.
«Treasury will continue to enforce our sanctions, and we are making it explicitly clear that shipping companies employing deceptive tactics to mask illicit trade with North Korea expose themselves to great risk,» said officials.
The Treasury Department said that in 2018, North Korean ports received at least 263 tanker deliveries of refined petroleum via UN-prohibited ship-to-ship transfers.
It said that if the tankers were fully laden, North Korea would have imported 3.78 million barrels — more than 7.5 times the 500,000 barrels per year allowed under a UN resolution.
