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A satellite image of North Korea’s Port of Wonsan in Kangwon Province taken on July 16. A vessel is docked next to a crane for moving coal. (Yonhap News)

A South Korean coal importing company is being investigated by the customs authority on suspicions of importing what is believed to be North Korean coal and disguising it as being from Russia, government officials have disclosed. Reportedly, this is only one of nine suspicious cases being investigated by the authorities.

Misrepresenting the origin of coal counts as illegitimate importing under the Customs Act and the forgery of private documents under the criminal code. And since importing North Korean coal is banned by UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea (Resolution No. 2371), this could also represent a violation of sanctions, if the coal does turn out to be from North Korea.

On Aug. 6, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Korea Customs Service (KCS) met reporters at the Foreign Ministry office in Seoul’s Jongno District and explained the current status of their investigation into the import of coal suspected of being from North Korea.

“We were provided with intelligence related to allegations of importing North Korean coal from the relevant government agency in Oct. 2017. We have been investigating the importer implicated in the intelligence in question and are currently wrapping up that investigation,” said a KCS official. The KCS is planning to announce the details of its investigation when it hands over the case to the prosecutors, after completing the investigation.

According to the explanation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the KCS, the South Korean government was provided intelligence by an ally in Oct. 2017 that coal believed to be from North Korea had been brought into South Korea by way of Russia and has been investigating the case since then. Currently, there are a total of nine cases being investigated by the KCS. But when a KCS official was asked how many companies were under investigation, the official declined to provide more details since the investigation might end with the companies being cleared of charges.

This past March, a panel of experts under the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea stated in a report that two ships carrying North Korean coal had docked in South Korean ports – the Sky Angel in Incheon on Oct. 2 and the Rich Glory in Pohang on Oct. 11.

But until upcoming investigations have run their course, it’s too soon to say whether the coal these companies imported is actually from North Korea. There are a number of possibilities that will have to be determined by investigators. The companies may have actually imported Russian coal; they may have known it was North Korean coal and passed it off as Russian; or they may have been fooled by Russian companies and imported coal without realizing it was from North Korea.

“We’re getting this intelligence from an ally, and the intelligence itself does not constitute definitive proof that the coal is from North Korea,” said an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Company staff are 99 percent certain that the coal is from Russia. The 9,700 tons carried by two ships [Sky Angel and Rich Glory] in October of last year were imported to South Korea on competitive international bids. When we were taking bids, we specified that coal from North Korea as well as China, for that matter, was not allowed,” said a representative for Korea South-East Power, which bought coal from the company suspected of importing coal from North Korea.

“A company that uses coal from North Korea without being aware of its origin is not subject to sanctions even if that coal was laundered,” the representative added.

By Noh Ji-won and Cho Kye-wan, staff reporter

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