A North Korean freighter seized by the Philippines was allowed to sail out of the Philippine sea after nearly a month under tough new United Nations sanctions, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
The M/V Jin Teng, a 6,830- deadweight ton cargo ship with its 21 North Korean crew, left Thursday afternoon for China after clearing immigration, Customs, quarantine and port authorities.
“At the policy level, there is no more basis to continue to hold M/V Jin Teng after UN Security Council delisted it from the annex of UNSC Resolution 2270,” DFA spokesperson Charles Jose said.
“No contraband was found onboard and the ship was cleared by the United Nations,” the DFA said.
The Philippine Coast Guard escorted the ship out of Philippine territory, coastguard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo said.
The PCG inspected the ship and no contraband on board except some broken aids to navigation equipment were found, Balilo said.
Tough new UN sanctions, passed in March to punish North Korea after its fourth nuclear test in January, blacklisted 31 ships owned by North Korean shipping firm Ocean Maritime Management Company. The sanctions aim to starve North Korea of money for its nuclear weapons program.
But the UN Security Council agreed earlier this week to China’s request to remove sanctions on four ships blacklisted for ties to Pyongyang’s arms trade. China said the ships were not OMM ships and secured a commitment that the ships would no longer use North Korean crewmen.
The four ships, included the Jin Teng, detained by the Philippines days after the sanctions took effect.
Jin Teng, flying a Sierra Leone flag, arrived in the Philippines on Feb. 27 and was unloading palm kernels when it was seized.
