The government plans to slap independent sanctions on a Hong Kong shipping firm and a North Korean vessel involved in illegal ship-to-ship transfer of North Korean coal. 

According to the foreign ministry in Seoul on Thursday, the sanctions will be imposed on Friday on HK Yilin Shipping Company and North Korea’s Deoksong vessel. 

The ministry said the stateless ship “DE YI” owned by HK Yilin loaded North Korean coal from Deoksong in waters near the North’s city of Nampo in March and transported the cargo.  

At Washington’s request, the government seized DE YI as it was on its way to Vladivostok and probed the ship on suspicions of violating UN Security Council(UNSC) resolutions in March.  

Transshipment with North Korean ships and exporting North Korean coal are both prohibited pursuant to UNSC resolutions.  

Deoksong is a second-hand vessel that entered the North at the end of March of last year. The supply of second-hand ships to the North is also a violation of UNSC resolutions.