Getting Around The Sanctions
SHENYANG, China, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) — North Korea has sent chartered flights to Dalian, China, to ferry pro-Pyongyang Korean residents living in Japan, local civil aviation authorities said Tuesday.
Chinese authorities said North Korea’s Air Koryo flew into the port city on Nov. 22 and twice more on Dec. 1 and Dec. 10.
Air Koryo does not maintain regular flights to the city on the Liaodong Peninsula.
Airline officials said the flights were arranged to transport students from a school run by the General Association of Korean Residents (Chongryon), who wanted to visit the communist country.
It said there are no plans to continue the chartered flights.
The use of chartered flights comes after Tokyo banned the Mangyongbong-92 ferry from docking in Japanese ports in July. The ship had been the only regular passenger link between the two countries. The Japanese government initiated the ban after Pyongyang launched ballistic missiles into the East Sea.
Air Koryo operates regular weekly flights to Beijing on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and flights to Shenyang in Liaoning Province on Wednesday and Saturday.
Granted, chartering flights is a lot more expensive than ferry, it shows that North Korea is adapting quite well despite the sanctions. Here, the elites are getting their luxury items at Dadong, China, a short drive away. Notice the total lack of cooperation by China when it comes to enforcing the sanctions. Maybe the Chinese cannot enforce them, maybe they are not willing. Perhaps the UN, which passed these resolutions, ought to do some enforcing of their own and get their member states in line.
