According to the U.S. Justice Department, a U.S. federal court ruled on Friday to confiscate an oil ship owned by a Singaporean person for violating U.S. and UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea that restrict clandestine transfers of petroleum products to the North.
The Justice Department said the tanker, M/T Courageous, had illegally stopped transmitting information about its location between August and December 2019, when satellite imagery showed it engaged in a ship-to-ship transfer of more than $1.5 million worth of oil to a North Korean ship before travelling to the North Korean port of Nampo, according to court documents.
In a press release, the department said thaty in accordance with the International Emergency Economic Energy Act of 2016 and the North Korea Strengthening and Sanctions Policies Act, North Korea and the persons or entities identified by the Foreign Assets Control Office of the Ministry of Finance participate in promoting the DPRK ban on weapons of mass destruction and Americans to trade or use the U.S. financial system.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
According to the department, the seized tanker's Singaporean owner, Kwek Kee Seng, used "unwitting U.S. banks" to buy the Courageous and oil for supplying North Korea.
It stated that the suspected owner and operator of the Courageous, Kwek Kee Seng, a Singaporean national who remains at large, is facing criminal allegations of conspiracy to evade economic restrictions on the DPRK and money laundering scheme.
Kwek is also suspected of buying the Courageous, formerly known as the Sea Prima, to advance the conspiracy to dodge sanctions and launder money, according to the Justice Department.
The ship was captured in Cambodia in March 2020 and is being held there by a U.S. seizure order filed on April 2, 2020.
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