State Department Shares Recommendations on Curbing North Korean Sanctions Evasion

The State Department recently held a ship registry management and compliance standards symposium in Washington, D.C., to share recommendations to counter North Korean evasion of sanctions in the maritime arena, the agency said Feb. 11. The symposium gathered representatives from international ship registries, classification societies, foreign governments and industry to improve due diligence and inter-industry communications to stop Illegal North Korean shipping practices. The United Nations is expected to release a report next month alleging that North Korea continued to violate international sanctions last year -- specifically through illegal ship-to-ship transfers -- with China’s help (see 2002110016).