Russia has supplied North Korea with more than a million barrels of oil since March this year, according to new research.
Detailed satellite imagery analysis from the Open Source Centre, a non-profit research group based in the UK, revealed the huge ongoing supply chain between Moscow and Pyongyang.
The images show more than a dozen different North Korean oil tankers arriving at an oil terminal in ’s Far East a total of 43 times over the past eight months.
Further pictures, taken of the ships at sea, appear to show the tankers arriving empty, and leaving almost full.
The first oil transfer documented by the Open Source Centre in a new report, was on March, 7, 2024, seven months after it first emerged Pyongyang was sending Moscow weapons.
The supplies reflect the growing relationship between and “dear friend” Kim Jong Un.
The shipments have continued as thousands of North Korean troops are reported to have been sent to to fight, with the last one recorded on 5 November.
“While Kim Jong Un is providing with a lifeline to continue his war, is quietly providing North Korea with a lifeline of its own,” says Joe Byrne from the Open Source Centre.
“This steady flow of oil gives North Korea a level of stability it hasn’t had since these sanctions were introduced.”
North Korea is the only country in the world not allowed to buy oil on the open market. The number of barrels of refined petroleum it can receive is capped by the United Nations at 500,000 annually, well below the amount it needs.
Foreign Secretary, David Lammy has said the donated oil is payment for the weapons and troops North Korea has sent to aid its war effort in .
“To keep fighting in , has become increasingly reliant on North Korea for troops and weapons in exchange for oil,” Mr Lammy said.
He added that this was “having a direct impact on security in the Korean peninsula, Europe and Indo-Pacific”.
In all 43 of the journeys tracked by the Open Source Centre using satellite images, the North Korean-flagged tankers arrived at ’s Vostochny Port with their trackers switched off, concealing their movements.The images show they then made their way back to one of four ports on North Korea’s east and west coast.
“The vessels appear silently, almost every week,” said Mr Byrne, the researcher from the Open Source Centre. “Since March there’s been a fairly constant flow.”
