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 North Korean general cargo ship Grand Karo arrived at Rizhao port
in northeastern China a few days ago, but the port did not allow the
ship to berth, said a person at the Rizhao Maritime Authority,
declining to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to
the media.
The ship is among 31 vessels blacklisted by China's Ministry of
Transport after they were covered by harsher sanctions on North
Korea that were approved by the U.N. Security Council last week.
At least two other ships on the list of barred freighters are now
sailing away after being anchored off Chinese ports, ship tracking
data on the Reuters Eikon terminal showed on Tuesday.
Another of the vessels has been banned from leaving port in the
Philippines until safety deficiencies, found during a security and
safety inspection of the vessel, are rectified.
The 6,593 deadweight tonne (dwt) Grand Karo is now anchored about 35
km (22 miles) from Rizhao, ship tracking data showed.
 "The vessel operator will have to decide what they can do," the
Rizhao maritime official said.
"If non-sanctioned North Korean ships enter the port, officials will
ask senior authorities for instructions on how to deal with them,"
the official added.
In Seoul, the government said on Tuesday it would impose new
sanctions against 40 individuals and 30 entities because of
suspected links to North Korea's weapons program and would ban
vessels that had stopped at North Korean ports in the past 180 days.
"We will expand financial sanctions related to North Korea,
including 38 North Korean individuals and 24 entities responsible
for developing weapons of mass destruction, and two individuals and
six entities of third countries that have indirectly supported the
North," a statement issued jointly by several ministries said.
The individuals subject to financial sanctions announced on Tuesday
include a Singaporean and a Taiwan national who are heads of a
shipping firm and a trading company, the government said.
South Korea also blacklisted a Thai shipping firm called Mariner's
Shipping & Trading and Taiwan company Royal Team Corporation.
South Korea will ban those on the list from engaging in financial
transactions with South Korean entities and freeze assets that are
held in the country, the government said.
BARRED SHIPS
Officials of Mariner's Shipping & Trading declined comment. One of
them referred queries to the Thai foreign ministry and said: "All
this has been very bad for us. Very bad for trade."
Mariner's Shipping & Trading, with its head office in Bangkok, has
operated and financed vessels associated with Ocean Maritime
Management Co. Ltd, a North Korean company that has been blacklisted
along with the 31 ships it controls.
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Taiwan's Royal Team Corporation, which is believed to have sold
parts that were used in North Korea's long-range rocket launched in
2012, according to a U.N. panel, did not immediately have comment.
Nineteen of the 31 ships have their automatic identification systems
(AIS), a mandatory vessel tracking safety device, switched off,
according to Reuters data. Some have gone silent in the last few
days while others have not been online since 2014.
One vessel, the 5,686 dwt Hui Chon, is moored at the Russian Far
East port of Vostochny. Port officials could not be contacted
because it is a public holiday in Russia.
Eight vessels are sailing, while there is no record on Reuters and
shipping databases of one of the sanctioned ships.
The Grand Karo, which was turned away at the Chinese port, is owned
by Yuanyao Shipping Ltd and managed by Aoyang Marine Company, two
Hong Kong-registered firms, according to the Reuters' Eikon and the
Equasis shipping database, although is no telephone number listing
for either company.
Of the two ships sailing toward North Korea, the 14,379 dwt
Dawnlight, now renamed First Gleam, was heading to the port of
Wonsan, after being anchored in the outer Yangtze River estuary near
Shanghai until early on Tuesday.
The 6,901 dwt Ever Bright 88, owned and managed by Hong Kong
companies, Pantech Shipping Ltd and Baili Shipping & Trading Ltd,
was sailing towards North Korea after being anchored off China.
A Shanghai Maritime Bureau official who was only willing to give his
surname as Yu confirmed the bureau had received the transport
ministry notice but had not dealt with any of the ships.
Shanghai Port was unavailable for comment. Maritime safety and port
officials in the Chinese ports of Longkou, Yantai and Shandong and
Lianyunggang declined to comment.
(Additional reporting by Keith Wallis in Singapore, Jack Kim and
James Pearson in Seoul, Shanghai Newsroom, Brenda Goh in Shanghai,
Amy Lefevre in Bangkok; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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