US Gets Judgment
of Forfeiture of North Korea
Ship Inner City Press Asked
Berman Of
By Matthew
Russell Lee, CJR Letter Denial
UN GATE / SDNY,
May 9 – Today a
North Korean ship was
seized by the
United States,
with only a fleeing
reference to
the United
Nations, whose
DPRK Sanctions
Committee has
been an
untransparent
backwater, see
below. On a
U.S. Department
of Justice press
call at
1 p.m.,
Inner City
Press asked Geoffrey
S. Berman,
United States
Attorney for
the Southern
District of
New York, if
he or the
Department
expects North
Korea or its
allies
including
China to
context the seizure in
the UN and its
Security
Council's DPRK
Sanctions
1718
Commitee (and
if the UN had
helped, or
hurt). Berman
said "no
comment" (he
previously answered
Inner City
Press'
question about
Rochester Drug
Co-op, here).
The seized
ship is on the
way to
American Samoa
from Indonesia and
as to the
SDNY, North
Korea has 60
days to try to
contest it.
After that it
will be sold
or put to U.S.
government
use.... From May
9, prior to
any DOJ press
call: ", John
C. Demers,
Assistant
Attorney
General for
National
Security,
William F.
Sweeney Jr.,
Assistant
Director-in-Charge
of the New
York Office of
the Federal
Bureau of
Investigation,
and John
Brown,
Assistant
Director of
the
Counterintelligence
Division of
the Federal
Bureau of
Investigation,
announced
today the
filing of a
civil
forfeiture
complaint
against M/V
Wise Honest
(the “Wise
Honest”), a
17,061-ton,
single-hull
bulk carrier
ship
registered in
the Democratic
People’s
Republic of
Korea (“DPRK”
or “North
Korea”).
The Wise
Honest, one of
North Korea’s
largest bulk
carriers, was
used to
illicitly ship
coal from
North Korea
and to deliver
heavy
machinery to
the
DPRK.
Payments for
maintenance,
equipment, and
improvements
of the Wise
Honest were
made in U.S.
dollars
through
unwitting U.S.
banks.
This conduct
violates
longstanding
U.S. law and
United Nations
Security
Council
resolutions.
U.S. Attorney
Geoffrey S.
Berman
said:
“Today’s civil
action is the
first-ever
seizure of a
North Korean
cargo vessel
for violating
international
sanctions.
Our Office
uncovered
North Korea’s
scheme to
export tons of
high-grade
coal to
foreign buyers
by concealing
the origin of
their ship,
the Wise
Honest.
This scheme
not only
allowed North
Korea to evade
sanctions, but
the Wise
Honest was
also used to
import heavy
machinery to
North Korea,
helping expand
North Korea’s
capabilities
and continuing
the cycle of
sanctions
evasion.
With this
seizure, we
have
significantly
disrupted that
cycle.
We are willing
and able to
deploy the
full array of
law
enforcement
tools to
detect, deter,
and prosecute
North Korea’s
deceptive
attempts to
evade
sanctions.”
***
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