US blacklists Singapore shipping firm
July 24, 2015
The US has blacklisted a Singapore-based shipping company believed to be facilitating illegal weapons shipments to North Korea.
The US Treasury Department said it had imposed financial sanctions on Senat Shipping Company and the firm's president, Leonard Lai. The asset and property freeze also targets another vessel, "Dawnlight," in which Senat has an interest. The move bars any US entities or citizens from conducting business with the company.
Washington said Senat was "linked" to Ocean Maritime Management Company (OMMC), a North Korean shipping company whose Chong Chon Gang vessel was seized by Panamanian authorities in 2013 for carrying undeclared military equipment from Cuba. The lethal cargo was hidden under tons of neatly stacked sugar bags.
According to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Senat had arranged "the purchase, repair, certification, and crewing of OMMC vessels."
'Unwarranted allegations'
Senat on Friday said it "strongly refutes these groundless and unwarranted allegations." It said it expected Washington to explain its side and vowed to clear its name.
In a statement, the firm firm that it had "for many years chartered North Korean vessels to operate on the global market." But, it insisted, any link between the two sides were "legal" and "transparent."
"Senat wishes to stress that all its dealings were legal and involved commercial shipments of commodities on behalf of international commodity traders. These transactions have always been transparent and can survive any form of scrutiny," the statement read.
The company also conded that it had indeed chartered the Chong Chon Gang, but maintained that it was not the commissioner at the time the ship was intercepted in Panama.
Arms shipments transported by OMMC serve as a key resource for North Korea's ongoing proliferation activities.
Sales from these shipments contribute to North Korea's other illicit programs,” said the Treasury Department's Acting Under-Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Adam J. Szubin.
"We are working to make it as challenging as possible for North Korea to continue its unlawful behavior by actively targeting anyone or any business that supports these illicit arms transfers."
Regular threats to annihilate the US and its allies have all but cut off the Hermit Kingdom from international trade.