The second largest cargo ship North Korea uses to violate US sanctions has just been seized by the US and they aren’t gonna get it back:
CNN – The United States has seized a North Korean cargo ship, alleging sanctions violations by the country, the Justice Department said Thursday.
The ship, the M/V Wise Honest, was used to haul valuable coal from North Korea that was sold in other countries, including China, according to the Justice Department. The US and the United Nations have said that North Korea has used illicit sales of its coal to fund the country’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles program.
In a statement, senior Justice Department officials called the seizure the first of its kind, and said it was part of the US campaign of “maximum pressure” against the North Korean government.
“This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service,” said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “We are deeply committed to the role the Justice Department plays in applying maximum pressure to the North Korean regime to cease its belligerence.”
The Wise Honest was North Korea’s second largest merchant ship and was capable of carrying tens of thousands of tons of cargo. Prosecutors said the ship was also used to haul heavy machinery into North Korea, including 412,584 kilograms of “steel plate.”
Berman said the ship was “recently taken into custody” but declined to provide an exact date for the transfer of custody.
I’m glad to see some action from the Trump administration enforcing their sanctions on Kim Jong Un.
North Korea played the Trump administration with their denuclearization game and it’s become very clear that they were never serious about denuclearizing, which isn’t a shock to most of us.
Trump always said that if Kim Jong Un went back on his word that he’d get tough with them again and it looks like he wasn’t joking.
How Kim Jong Un responds to this remains to be seen, but I’d expect a few missile launches in the coming weeks.