A North Korean cargo vessel used to transport coal -- in violation of international sanctions against the rogue regime -- was seized, the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday, just hours after the hermit kingdom fired two suspected short-range missiles. The 17,061-ton vessel, called the Wise Honest, is one of North Korea’s largest bulk carriers used to illicitly ship coal from North Korea and deliver heavy machinery to the Hermit Kingdom, officials said. U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said this is the first time a North Korean cargo ship was seized for violating international sanctions. “This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service,” Assistant Attorney General Demers said in a news release. “North Korea, and the companies that help it evade U.S. and U.N. sanctions, should know that we will use all tools at our disposal — including a civil forfeiture action such as this one or criminal charges — to enforce the sanctions enacted by the U.S. and the global community." JAMES CARAFANO: NORTH KOREAN MISSILE TEST - HERE'S THE CRITICAL THING TRUMP NEEDS TO DO NOW Berman said Thursday that Kim's regime was evading sanctions by “concealing” Wise Honest’s origin. The ship was used by Korea Songi Shipping Company between November 2016 and April 2018 to export coal from North Korea in exchange for machinery, court documents stated. Those who worked with the company would allegedly then lie about the origin of the vessel and where the coal came from by listing different countries for its nationality in shipping documentation. “We are willing and able to deploy the full array of law enforcement tools to detect, deter, and prosecute North Korea’s deceptive attempts to evade sanctions,” Berman said. The shipping company would pay for repairs and equipment using American dollars obtained through “unwitting” U.S. financial institutions, which violated sanctions barring North Korean citizens or entities from the U.S. financial system. Foreign maritime authorities intercepted a coal shipment in April 2018, court documents stated, and officials later discovered more than $750,000 in payments were made through American banks. The ship is in U.S. custody as of Thursday and heading to American Samoa. David Maxwell, a retired Army Special Operations Colonel with more than 20 years served in Asia, said the U.S. had been tracking the vessel. “The United States has certainly been tracking the Wise Honest, and others, and may have been waiting for it to be in the right location or the right time to have the best political effect. It takes considerable intelligence work and the right assets in the right location to make a seizure like this.” NORTH KOREA FIRES 2 SHORT-RANGE MISSILES, 5 DAYS AFTER PREVIOUS LAUNCH; US TESTS LONG-RANGE MISSILE WITHIN 10 MINUTES On Thursday, at least one projectile the Hermit Kingdom launched was from the Sino-ri area of North Pyongan province, an area known to have one of North Korea's oldest missile bases where a brigade operates mid-range Rodong missiles, South Korea's military said, adding later that there were two launches from the nearby town of Kusong. The town is the same location where North Korea conducted its first successful flight tests of its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range missile and Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile, both in 2017. The U.S. Air Force on Thursday also tested a Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as part of a scheduled ICBMs test. Officials said the launch was unrelated to current events. Trump, who met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in late February for the second U.S.-North Korea summit, told reporters at the White House on Thursday that "nobody's happy" about the recent rocket launches. He added that "we're looking" at the situation "very seriously right now." CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News' Jake Gibson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.<doc-sep>Dana Bash: This is so telling about where the Republican party is NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 24: Trump Tower stands on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on August 24, 2018 in New York City. Following new allegations over hush money that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid to an adult-film actress, the Manhattan district attorneyÕs office in New York City may seek criminal charges against the Trump Organization in the coming days. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Why GOP is standing in the way of Capitol riot investigation WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 08: US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) remarks on the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the US Capitol November 8, 2006 in Washington, DC. Warner said he supports President George W. Bush's nomination of former CIA Director Robert Gates for Secretary of Defense. Warner said he anticipates Gates' confirmation before the end of the year. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), joined by Senate Assistant Minority Leader John Thune (R-SD) (L) and Senate Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), speaks following a Senate Republican Policy luncheon at the Russell Senate Office Building on May 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. This Saturday, May 4, 2019, photo provided on Sunday, May 5, 2019, by the North Korean government shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, equipped with binoculars, observing tests of different weapons systems, in North Korea. North Korean state media on Sunday said leader Kim observed live-fire drills of long-range multiple rocket launchers and unspecified tactical guided weapons, a day after South Korea's military detected the North launching several unidentified short-range projectiles into the sea off its eastern coast. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) (CNN) — The United States has seized a North Korean cargo ship, alleging sanctions violations by the country, the Justice Department said Thursday. The seizure is likely to heighten tensions between the two countries at a time when US efforts to dissuade North Korea from pursuing its nuclear weapons program have stalled following the failure of the Hanoi summit in February. The ship, the M/V Wise Honest, was used to haul valuable coal from North Korea that was sold in other countries, including China, according to the Justice Department. The US and the United Nations have said that North Korea has used illicit sales of its coal to fund the country’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles program. In a statement, senior Justice Department officials called the seizure the first of its kind, and said it was part of the US campaign of “maximum pressure” against the North Korean government. “This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service,” said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “We are deeply committed to the role the Justice Department plays in applying maximum pressure to the North Korean regime to cease its belligerence.” The Wise Honest was North Korea’s second largest merchant ship and was capable of carrying tens of thousands of tons of cargo. Prosecutors said the ship was also used to haul heavy machinery into North Korea, including 412,584 kilograms of “steel plate.” The ship is on its way to American Samoa, according to Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, who spoke to reporters from the Justice Department Thursday. Berman said the ship was “recently taken into custody” but declined to provide an exact date for the transfer of custody. The ship was originally seized from the North Koreans by Indonesian maritime authorities in April 2018 and a US judge in July of that year issued a warrant authorizing the seizure of the ship. Berman denied that the timing of the unsealing Thursday of the seizure warrant had anything to do with the deterioration of nuclear trade talks between the US and North Korea, and the news out of South Korea that North Korea had launched two short range missiles. “There is no connection at all between the recent activities by North Korea and the unsealing of our seizure warrant. We have been pursuing this for months as indicated in the complaint,” Berman said. The complaint documents multiple shipments of coal delivered from North Korea to China as well as one instance where the ship was scheduled to make a stop in a Russian port, where cargo documents would be prepared to try and conceal the haul’s origin. According to the Justice Department, payments for maintenance and equipment to the ship were made in US dollars through “unwitting US banks.” Indonesian maritime authorities intercepted and detained the ship on April 2, 2018, as it sailed south with safety tracking equipment turned off and a load of coal it had picked up in Nampo, North Korea, one month earlier in its cargo, according to the complaint. A satellite photograph from March 2018 included as evidence in the complaint shows a ship that appears to be the Wise Honest tied alongside a dock in North Korea with “large quantities of what appears to be coal piled alongside the dock and in warehouses adjacent to it.” “There are also cranes and other equipment that appear consistent with what would be used to load coal into M/V Wise Honest,” the complaint says. The North Korean captain of the ship was arrested and charged with violations of Indonesian maritime law, according to the complaint, which says he was convicted by an Indonesian court in November 2018 of “offenses related to improper documentation for the ship.”<doc-sep>
The U.S. has seized a North Korean freighter that was caught shipping coal in violation of U.N. sanctions, the Justice Department revealed Thursday. The 17,000-ton cargo ship, called the Wise Honest, was stopped in Indonesia last year after it was found to be carrying coal. The ship's captain was charged with violating Indonesian law, and last July, the U.S. filed an action to seize the ship, according to court papers. Federal prosecutors said the seizure marks the first time the U.S. has taken possession of a North Korean ship for violating international sanctions. "This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service," said John Demers, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's National Security Division. The Wise Honest, North Korea's second-largest ship for carrying bulk cargo, was on its way to American Samoa, U.S. officials said. On Thursday, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to give the U.S. ownership of the vessel through a civil forfeiture action — the same thing prosecutors do when they seek to take ownership of planes or boats used by drug smugglers. The Justice Department says the U.S. is entitled to take this action because payments to maintain and equip the vessel were made through American banks. "Our office uncovered North Korea's scheme to export tons of high-grade coal to foreign buyers by concealing the origin of their ship, the Wise Honest," said Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "This scheme not only allowed North Korea to evade sanctions, but the Wise Honest was also used to import heavy machinery to North Korea, helping expand North Korea’s capabilities and continuing the cycle of sanctions evasion." The North Korean ship, "Wise Honest." Department of Justice The announcement of the seizure came just hours after North Korea launched suspected short-range missiles — the second such weapons test in a week. But Berman said the effort to take control of the Wise Honest had been in the works for some time and was not spurred by North Korea's overnight actions. The Justice Department said the Korea Songi Shipping Company used the Wise Honest from at least November 2016 through April 2018 — and broke American law by paying U.S. dollars to "unwitting" banks for several improvements, equipment purchases and service expenditures for the vessel. The March 2018 cargo shipment yielded payments totaling more than $750,000, the Justice Department said. Berman declined comment when asked if the heavy machinery shipped back to North Korea was used in the country's weapons program. The seizure follows a report in March by a U.N. panel of experts that found North Korea is successfully evading United Nations sanctions through elaborate smuggling and deceptive tactics, allowing the regime to import oil and ship coal to China and other countries. The sanctions are designed to deprive Pyongyang of cash for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and force the regime to abandon its arsenal. The Trump administration has led international efforts to tighten sanctions against North Korea, vowing to impose “maximum pressure” to persuade North Korea agree to relinquish its weapons in return for an end to sanctions. "These violations render the latest United Nations sanctions ineffective by flouting the caps on the import of petroleum products and coal oil" by North Korea imposed by the U.N. Security Council in 2017, according to the U.N. report. "These transfers have increased in scope, scale and sophistication," it said. Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics Despite U.S. warnings to keep up the economic pressure on North Korea, the regime has not suffered a spike in fuel prices in recent months, a sign that analysts say shows the country is able to secure enough fuel to keep its economy afloat. North Korea has adapted to sanctions over the years and now employs increasingly sophisticated methods, the U.N. panel found in its March report. Pyongyang used to alter sections of shipping documents but now creates entirely fake registration and other papers that enable it to smuggle illicit cargo through ports around the world. The regime also steals the identities of other ships and spoofs the location of vessels on the global electronic tracking system for ships, according to the U.N. panel.