South Korea said Wednesday that it has been holding since January a Togo-flagged ship involved in transporting North Korean coal exports banned under a UN sanctions resolution.

A Foreign Ministry official said that the government stated the maritime interdiction in its sanctions implementation report, which was submitted to the UN Security Council(UNSC) sanctions committee in March. 

The government said that it has been holding and investigating the Talent Ace, formerly called the Xin Sheng Hai, which is among ten ships accused of transporting banned items from North Korea. Late last year, the U.S. asked the UNSC to blacklist the ten ships for the violations. 

The report, which was posted on the sanctions committee's Web site on Wednesday, also showed that Seoul has taken similar measures on two other ships -- the Lighthouse Winmore and the Koti -- for their involvement in banned ship-to-ship transfers to North Korean vessels.

UNSC Resolution 2397 adopted December last year allows a country to capture and look into a vessel suspected of engaging in prohibited activities with North Korea.

[Photo : YONHAP News]