South Korea briefly seized and inspected a Hong Kong-registered ship in October for transferring oil products to a North Korean vessel and breaching U.N. sanctions, a foreign ministry official said Friday.
The Lighthouse Winmore, which was chartered by a Taiwanese company and carrying around 600 tonnes of oil products from South Korea's Yeosu port, transferred part of its cargo to a North Korean vessel on October 19, the official said.
South Korean customs authorities briefly seized and inspected the ship when it returned to Yeosu Port on November 24, he said.
The ship, chartered by Taiwanese company Billions Bunker Group Corp., previously visited Yeosu on October 11 to load up on Japanese refined oil before heading towards its purported destination in Taiwan.
Instead of going to Taiwan, however, the vessel transferred the oil to the North's Sam Jong 2 as well as to three other non-North Korean vessels in international waters, the official said.
"This marks a typical case of North Korea shrewdly circumventing U.N. Security Council sanctions by using its illegal networks", the official told journalists.
"The actions taken will be reported to the U.N. Seucity Counci sanctions committee on North Korea in the future," he said.
South Korea has shared intelligence with the U.S. about the detection of the illegal transaction, he added.
The Sam Jong 2 was one of four North Korean ships that was blocked from international ports by the U.N. Security Council on Thursday over suspicions of carrying or transporting goods banned by sanctions targeting Pyongyang's weapons ambitions, diplomats told AFP.
President Donald Trump criticized China on Thursday following reports that Chinese ships transferred oil to North Korean vessels at sea in violation of U.N. sanctions over the North's nuclear weapons program.
Trump said on Twitter that China had been "Caught RED HANDED," adding he was "very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea."
"There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!" the president said, without citing the source of his information. He later told The New York Times, "It was reported this morning, and it was reported on Fox."
China said on Friday reports of Chinese ships sold oil to North Korea do not accord with the facts, adding that China will never allow Chinese companies to violate U.N. resolutions.
China has always implemented U.N. resolutions in their entirety, and if there really are violations China will deal with them seriously in accordance with the law, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing.
The Security Council has slapped three sets of sanctions on North Korea this year: one on August 5 targeting the iron, coal and fishing industries; another set on September 11 aimed at textiles and limiting oil supply; and the most recent on December 22 focused on refined petroleum products.