Russia Delivers One Million Barrels of Oil to North Korea Despite UN Sanctions

Russia has supplied more than a million barrels of oil to North Korea since March 2024, likely in exchange for weapons and troops.

 According to an investigation by the non-profit research group Open Source Centre, the ВВС reports.

Satellite images show more than a dozen North Korean oil tankers arriving at an oil terminal in Russia’s Far East, a total of 43 times in the past eight months. In all 43 cases, the North Korean-flagged tankers arrived at Russia’s Eastern Port with their tracking systems turned off, concealing their movements. The images show that they then returned to one of four ports on North Korea’s east and west coasts.

The first oil shipment was on March 7, 2024, seven months after it was first reported that North Korea was supplying arms to Russia. The Open Source Centre also analyzed the cargo capacity of each ship and concluded that Russia supplied the DPRK with more than a million barrels of oil — more than double the annual limit and about ten times the volume that Moscow officially transferred to Pyongyang in 2023.

It should be noted that the supply is also a violation of UN sanctions, which prohibit countries from selling oil to North Korea, except for small consignments (500 thousand barrels of refined oil per year).

As previously reported by USM, South Korea has imposed restrictions on Russian and North Korean vessels for participating in illegal activities.