While most of the sanction-bypassing oil trade with North Korea is thought to be originating from China, oil sales from Russia to Kim Jong-un’s regime may be much larger than official figures suggest, as shell companies have been set up for illicit oil flows to Pyongyang, The Asan Institute for Policy Studies said in a recent report . The report found that a substantial amount of North Korea’s oil imports come from Russia, even though the majority is believed to come from China. According to the Asan Institute, there are indications that 622,878 tons of refined oil was transported to North Korea from Russia between 2015 and 2017, accounting for around one third of North Korea’s total refined oil imports during the period. Under the latest United Nations Security Council sanctions regarding oil sales to North Korea from December 2017, North Korea is allowed to import a maximum aggregate […]