The Ministry of Justice on Friday slapped sanctions on a local businessman suspected of selling oil to North Korea, banning all financial dealings with him and freezing his companies’ bank accounts.
Seoul last month said that it had in November last year detained a Hong Kong-registered ship suspected of transferring oil products to a North Korean vessel and breaching UN sanctions against the nuclear-armed regime.
Prosecutors last week said that a Taiwanese businessman surnamed Chen (陳) was under investigation for making a false declaration that a ship he chartered was bound for Hong Kong when it actually sailed to international waters to sell oil. He was released on bail and has not yet been formally charged.
Photo: AFP
The ministry on Friday announced sanctions against Chen Shih-hsien (陳世憲) and his solely owned Bunker’s Taiwan Group Corp, as well as Billions Bunker Group Corp (比利恩油品集團), both of which are registered offshore.
Two other entities backed by Chen — Oceanic Enterprise Co Ltd and UMC Corp Peru SAC — were also sanctioned under terrorism financing prevention laws.
The sanctions mean the bank accounts and assets of Chen and his affiliated companies are frozen, a ministry document said.
“We share the international responsibility toward regional security and we cannot tolerate any provocation to international security,” the ministry said in a statement.
Seoul last month said that Billions Bunker Group had chartered the ship Lighthouse Winmore, which was in November impounded by South Korean authorities after it allegedly transferred 600 tonnes of oil to a North Korean vessel.
Billions Bunker Group is incorporated in the Marshall Islands and cannot be traced directly to Chen, but Taiwanese authorities found him to be the sole shareholder of Bunker’s Taiwan Group — incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
Local media said Chen sold oil products through “a Chinese middleman” and had told prosecutors he did not know they were bound for a North Korean vessel.
The US had asked the UN Security Council to blacklist 10 ships — including the Lighthouse Winmore — for violating sanctions against North Korea.
Taiwan announced in September last year that it was banning all trade activities with North Korea.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique