The Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Dominican Republic and the Dominican Port Authority disputed news published in The Japan Times regarding a Dominican Republic registry tanker in North Korea waters. Victor Gomez Casanova, of the Port Authority, said there is no oil tanker registered for this country. Likewise, the Japanese ministries of Defense and Foreign Relations have clarified that the tanker shown in violations with UN is from the island of Dominica, not the Dominican Republic as the Japan Times had reported.
The Japan Times had reported that according to the Japanese government, a Japanese patrol plane spotted contact between North Korean and Dominican Republic tankers in the East China Sea, raising suspicion of a possible transfer of cargo in violation of UN sanctions on the North. The aircraft took photos of the scene near Shanghai on Saturday as it was patrolling for illicit transfer of refined oil at sea by North Korea.
Last September, the United Nations’ Security Council passed a resolution prohibited the ships of UN member states from engaging in the transfer of any goods or items to North Korean-flagged vessels at sea.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations in a press conference on Tuesday, 23 January 2018 clarified that the tanker was from Dominica, as reported by the NHK news agency. The news agency states that Japan has released images of a suspected violation of UN Security Council resolutions by a North Korea-registered tanker. And that the Japanese foreign and defense ministries on Wednesday, 24 January 2018 put on their websites the images of contact between the ship and a Dominica-registered tanker in the East China Sea.
Read more in Spanish:
NHK news agency
Japan Times
Listin Diario
25 January 2018
