Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – Enforcement of UN, U.S. and EU Sanctions 18 January 2019 No.18-014 Tweet Download PDF (360KB) This circular informs Members of the significant risk of evading the comprehensive international sanctions regime against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) which the United Nations Security Council introduced in 2017.   Enforcement of sanctions generally, and against the maritime industry specifically, has intensified since 2017. This circular draws attention to some of the measures that Governments are taking to enforce sanctions and warns of the serious consequences of trading with DPRK and DPRK-related interests.   Enforcement   Since 2017, the United Nations Security Council has combined with some of its prominent members to step up surveillance of any maritime activity that arouses a suspicion of sanctions evasion and there are now even more restrictive measures on DPRK and related activities. As a result of the heightened surveillance of shipping activities in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and Sea of Japan, surveillance agencies will continue to detect and identify ships which engage in trading activities with the DPRK and foreign flagged vessels and their owners linked to the DPRK that have been sanctioned for a global port entry ban and assets freeze.  Surveillance photographs of foreign-flagged ships and the people connected with them have resulted in their listing by the United Nations Security Council 1718 Committee as designated entities and individuals, subject to a UN asset freeze and travel ban.   Photographs reveal the extent to which some shipowners involved in both North Korean sanctions evasions and related transnational organised crime syndicates are prepared to go, including attempts to conceal the ship’s identity by covering or overwriting its legitimate IMO number and name while also turning off the AIS transmitter to hide its track from view on AIS system trackers. Such