A member of an expert panel for the UN Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee has requested that China investigate the smuggling of North Korean coal taking place in Chinese coastal waters.

Former British diplomat and the sanctions committee's expert panel coordinator Alastair Morgan made this remark during an interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK on Tuesday.

He said there are many incidents where North Korean coal is smuggled into China through illegal transshipment in waters near Ningbo city in China's eastern Zhejiang Province.

He said he is awaiting results of the Chinese government's investigation into the matter. The import of North Korean coal is banned under UN sanctions.