70% of North Korea coal smuggled to China, defying U.N. resolutions

North Korea is believed to have been involved in exporting some 3.7 million tons of coal from January to August last year in defiance of U.N. resolutions, with more than 70 percent of it likely smuggled to China through ship-to-ship transfers, according to a diplomatic source.The value of the illicit coal trade during the period is estimated to be $370 million. About $280 million of the total was from coal shipped to China after being transferred from North Korean vessels to Chinese vessels at sea, the source said.Amid an escalating series of sanctions resolutions against Pyongyang, the U.N…READ FULL ARTICLE