The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York announced on Monday the forfeiture of a North Korean carrier ship seized earlier this year that was violating sanctions by participating in illicit coal exports from the country. In addition to illegally exporting coal, the ship also hauled machinery back to North Korea, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement. Participants in the scheme also attempted to hide where the ship was really from and made ship-related payments totaling over $750,000 through U.S. financial institutions, he said. According to the U.S. Naval Institute, the ship was seized in May and was sold with the intention of compensating the families of Otto Warmbier and Kim Dong-shik–both victims of the North Korean regime. However, Berman said in a statement that Warmbier’s parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, voluntarily withdrew their claim in the action in order to facilitate the carrier’s forfeiture. “Today’s judgment of forfeiture finalizes the U.S. government’s seizure of the Wise Honest and officially takes this North Korean vessel out of commission,” Berman said. “It will no longer be used to further a criminal scheme.”
