New sanctions have been implemented by the European Union against Korea prohibiting the chartering of vessels and providing crew services to the country.
All EU member states must prohibit a designated vessel from entering their ports except in the event of an emergency. The measures were adopted by the United Nations Security Council in November 2016 in response to Korea’s nuclear test conducted in September last year.
The sanctions include the prohibition of registering ships in Korea, obtaining authorisation for a vessel to use the Korean flag, owning, leasing, operating, providing any vessel classification, certification or associated service or insuring any vessel flagged by the country.
According to World Maritime News, the committee may require the flag state of a designated vessel to deflag the ship or direct it to a specific port if there are reasonable grounds to believe the vessels are or have been related to nuclear or ballistic missile related activities.
A vessel designated by the committee would also be subject to the asset freeze. The provision of insurance or re-insurance services to vessels owned, controlled, or operated by the Korea, unless determined otherwise, are prohibited under these measures. It includes a ban on importing copper, nickel, silver, zinc, and statues form Korea and exporting new vessels to the country.
The sanctions impose an annual cap on Korea’s coal exports reducing their volume by around 60%.
