North Korea is the only country in the world not allowed to buy oil on the open market. The first oil transfer documented by the Open Source Centre in a new report, was on 7 March 2024, seven months after it first emerged Pyongyang was sending Moscow weapons. Easy and cheap oil supplyWhile most people in North Korea rely on coal for their daily lives, oil is essential for running the country’s military. “A million barrels is nothing for a large oil producer like Russia to release, but it is a substantial amount for North Korea to receive,” Dr Go adds. “The vessels appear silently, almost every week,” says Joe Byrne, the researcher from the Open Source Centre.

Source: The North Africa Journal November 22, 2024 15:59 UTC