Leo Byrne, Author at Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative

North Korea Abandons a Sanctioned Coal Smuggler on a Chinese Island

By Leo Byrne | May 27, 2022 | Categories: AMTI Update

A U.S. sanctioned North Korean vessel transporting coal in breach of UN resolutions ran aground on the Chinese coastline in September last year, after which the ship appears to have been abandoned and scrapped. With UN sanctions prohibiting transfers of both coal and vessels, it seems unclear how the derelict vessel on the Chinese shore […]

Suspicious Cargo at Nampho: North Korean Smuggling Goes Domestic

By Leo Byrne | March 17, 2022 | Categories: AMTI Update

A satellite photograph taken outside North Korea’s largest port in late 2020 shows a small cargo ship carrying what looks to be a missile shaped object on its deck. Measuring approximately 10 meters in the length, the seemingly cylindrical white object also seems to have a pointed tip and guidance fins at the base. But […]

North Korea Builds New Docks On The Edge of the Yellow Sea and the Chinese Border

By Leo Byrne | August 26, 2021 | Categories: AMTI Update

The analysis conducted and conclusions reached in this article are solely those of the author, not of CSIS or the team at AMTI. Commercially available satellite imagery shows that North Korea has constructed three new piers at the estuary of the Yalu River separating the north-western DPRK from neighboring China. The new docks appear built […]

North Korea still obtaining new oil tankers, despite sanctions

By Leo Byrne | June 1, 2021 | Categories: AMTI Update

UN resolutions and a global pandemic were not sufficient to halt North Korea’s acquisition of new oil tankers last year, with Pyongyang adding two new members to its oil smuggling fleet. The new acquisitions follow on from another tanker transfer in 2019, demonstrating North Korea’s ability to draw upon several avenues to continue expanding its […]