South Korea Arrests Chinese Oil Broker Over Alleged Illegal Bunker Transfers

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday February 1, 2023

South Korea's authorities have arrested a Chinese oil broker on suspicion of organising illegal transfers of marine diesel oil to North Korea.

The broker was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of arranging more than 35 transfers totalling 18,000 mt of MDO, news provider the Financial Times reported this week.

The executive is accused of arranging for a Russian oil tanker operated by a South Korean oil company to transfer the fuel to a Chinese vessel in the South China Sea, with the Chinese vessel then going on to make further ship-to-ship transfers with North Korean vessels in breach of UN sanctions.

The transfers are alleged to have taken place between October 2021 and January 2022.