A ground-breaking SIPRI investigation of a North Korean ship involved in violating United Nations arms embargoes has been published by the online portal 38 North.
38 North is a project of the US Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University and is the leading online portal for North Korean-related non-proliferation research.
The investigation is co-authored by SIPRI's Hugh Griffiths and Roope Siiritola, a Reconaissance Officer within the Finnish Defence Forces (Reserve) currently working as an intern with SIPRI's Countering Illicit Trafficking – Mechanism Assessment Projects (CIT-MAP).
They write:
All is seldom as it first appears in the world of North Korean sanctions busting. Six weeks after the inspection of the North Korean vessel Chong Chon Gang by Panamanian authorities on suspicion of drug trafficking, the full extent of the ship’s illicit military cargo falsely declared to be sugar and spare plastic sacks appears to have been much larger than previously reported. Moreover, key parts of the shipment seem intended for Pyongyang’s own use in its conventional military defenses, not to be repaired and returned to Cuba. Finally, the results of the search by Panamanian authorities provides new insight into North Korea’s illicit procurement priorities as well as evidence of its preferred maritime concealment methods and raises a host of still unanswered questions.
Elements of SIPRI's analysis have also been picked up by the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, among other global media outlets.