Satellite Imagery Indicates Russian Oil Shipments to North Korea, Violating Sanctions

Satellite image analysis conducted by the UK-based non-profit research organization, the Open Source Centre, indicates that Russia has likely provided North Korea with over a million barrels of oil since March of the current year. Prominent experts and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy informed the BBC that this oil constitutes compensation for the armaments and military personnel dispatched by Pyongyang to Moscow, supporting Russia’s conflict in Ukraine. Such deliveries contravene United Nations sanctions, which prohibit nations from selling oil to North Korea, apart from minor volumes, with the aim of impeding its economy to hinder its continued development of nuclear weapons. The satellite photographs, provided solely to the BBC, illustrate over twelve distinct North Korean oil tankers making 43 separate arrivals at an oil terminal in Russia’s Far East during the last eight months. Additional images, captured of these vessels at sea, suggest the tankers arrived unladen and departed nearly at full capacity. North Korea stands as the sole nation globally prohibited from purchasing oil on the open market. The United Nations imposes an annual limit of 500,000 barrels of refined petroleum it may acquire, a quantity significantly less than its requirements. The foreign ministry of Russia did not provide a response to our inquiry for a statement. A new report from the Open Source Centre documented the initial oil transfer on 7 March 2024, occurring seven months after reports first indicated Pyongyang was supplying Moscow with weaponry. These deliveries have persisted, coinciding with reports of thousands of North Korean soldiers being deployed to Russia for combat, with the most recent transfer noted on 5 November. Joe Byrne of the Open Source Centre stated, “While Kim Jong Un is providing Vladimir Putin with a lifeline to continue his war, Russia is quietly providing North Korea with a lifeline of its own.” He added, “This steady flow of oil gives North Korea a level of stability it hasn’t had since these sanctions were introduced.” The BBC was informed by four former members of a United Nations panel tasked with monitoring sanctions against North Korea that these transfers stem from strengthening connections between Moscow and Pyongyang. Hugh Griffiths, who headed the panel between 2014 and 2019, commented, “These transfers are fuelling Putin’s war machine – this is oil for missiles, oil for artillery and now oil for soldiers.” In a statement to the BBC, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy declared, “To keep fighting in Ukraine, Russia has become increasingly reliant on North Korea for troops and weapons in exchange for oil.” He further stated that this situation was “having a direct impact on security in the Korean peninsula, Europe and Indo-Pacific.” Although the majority of North Koreans depend on coal for their everyday existence, oil is vital for the operation of the nation’s military. Diesel and petrol facilitate the movement of missile launchers and troops nationwide, power munitions plants, and fuel the vehicles of Pyongyang’s leadership. The permitted 500,000 barrels of oil for North Korea are significantly less than the nine million barrels it consumes, implying that since the 2017 introduction of the cap, the nation has resorted to illicit oil purchases from criminal organizations to cover this shortfall. This process entails ship-to-ship oil transfers at sea, an endeavor described as hazardous, costly, and protracted by Dr Go Myong-hyun, a senior research fellow at South Korea’s Institute for National Security Strategy, an entity associated with the nation’s intelligence service. Dr Go Myong-hyun remarked, “Now Kim Jong Un is getting oil directly, it’s likely better quality, and chances are he’s getting it for free, as quid pro quo for supplying munitions. What could be better than that?” Dr Go further commented, “A million barrels is nothing for a large oil producer like Russia to release, but it is a substantial amount for North Korea to receive.” Across all 43 voyages monitored by the Open Source Centre via satellite imagery, the North Korean-flagged tankers reached Russia’s Vostochny Port with their tracking systems deactivated, thereby obscuring their transit. The visuals indicate that these vessels subsequently returned to one of four ports situated on North Korea’s eastern and western coasts. Joe Byrne, a researcher at the Open Source Centre, observed, “The vessels appear silently, almost every week.” He added, “Since March there’s been a fairly constant flow.” The team, which has continuously monitored these tankers since the initial implementation of oil sanctions, utilized their understanding of each ship’s capacity to determine its potential oil barrel load. Subsequently, they examined images of the vessels entering and exiting Vostochny, and in the majority of cases, could ascertain their draft in the water, thereby inferring their fill level. The tankers, according to their assessment, were filled to 90% of their maximum capacity. Mr Byrne stated, “We can see from some of the images that if the