South Korea’s main opposition party says another foreign vessel has been barred from leaving the country due to investigations linked to the alleged smuggling of North Korean coal. 

A North Korea sanctions investigation committee of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party disclosed its findings on Thursday during its first meeting at the National Assembly. 

The committee’s chairman, Representative Yoo Ki-june said a Togo-flagged ship, the DN5505, is being held at a port in Pohang and its crew questioned over suspicions it bought North Korean coal whose transaction and entry is banned under UN Security Council resolutions. 

He argued the vessel brought in more than three-thousand tons of coal to Pohang New Port in North Gyeongsang Province in early February, adding the same vessel unloaded nearly two-thousand-600 tons of coal at the same port last November. 

The committee claims it's the sixth foreign ship held in South Korea over the suspected smuggling of North Korean coal or the illegal ship-to-ship transfer of refined oil.