North Korea Ship Tracker

- Former Panel of Experts maritime expert Neil Watts

"The challenges (for sanctions enforcement bodies) will be determining the identity of vessels. A lot of vessels are falsifying their identity, like false names, false AIS transmissions, painting over distinctive features, et cetera, to hide what their identity is when they are caught or photographed doing ship-to-ship transfers."

Monitoring North Korean maritime activity is becoming increasingly challenging, demanding more scrutiny from the maritime community and due diligence by banks.

NK PRO can help complement your research needs with a unique combination of shipping data, indicators, and specialist news.

"Why is it important to monitor vessels? Because it’s not happening in so many jurisdictions... It’s a global issue and I think it’s high time that there’s more governance on the high seas. Otherwise, Chairman Kim is going to have room to maneuver for some time to come and it’s just very important to follow the money. And maritime transport is what makes a lot of it possible right now.”

- Outgoing head of UN Panel of Experts, Hugh Griffiths

"Why is it important to monitor vessels? Because it’s not happening in so many jurisdictions... It’s a global issue and I think it’s high time that there’s more governance on the high seas. Otherwise, Chairman Kim is going to have room to maneuver for some time to come and it’s just very important to follow the money. And maritime transport is what makes a lot of it possible right now.”

Monitoring North Korean maritime activity is becoming increasingly challenging, demanding more scrutiny from the maritime community and due diligence by banks. Companies need all the information they can get.

"The challenges (for sanctions enforcement bodies) will be determining the identity of vessels. A lot of vessels are falsifying their identity, like false names, false AIS transmissions, painting over distinctive features, et cetera, to hide what their identity is when they are caught or photographed doing ship-to-ship transfers."

- Former Panel of Experts maritime expert Neil Watts

Following North Korean fleet behavior is crucial as it presents data sets to help detect anomalous and sanctions-breaking activities and trends. Both ships directly flagged to the DPRK and those linked to DPRK entities can be tracked and observed at the click of a button.

Profiled by one of the world’s leading North Korea ship experts, Leo Byrne, individual ships in the NK Pro Ship Tracker will feature a biography that includes:

- Information on why they’re being tracked
- Previous company and name information
- Coordinates for all previous positions
- Record of the vessel’s safety inspections in some cases dating back over 17 years.

The NK Ship Tracker has contributed to some of our biggest stories like the OCN Singapore case, which led to the trial of Singaporean director Ng ‘Leo’ Kheng Wah and the inclusion of the company in the UN Panel of Experts report.

The NK Pro Ship Tracker has directly impacted foreign policy and North Korea’s fleet and economic activities.

NK Pro investigations have had noticeable effects on how vessels operate. For example, after the Tanzania flags story, North Korea-linked ships using the flag disappeared.

We were also the first to break the Fijian fake registry story, which was later investigated by the UN Panel of Experts. And now, ships using the fake Fijian flag remain to be seen.

And finally, we’d like to highlight this case. The Chinese government later called us out on it, where it was used to identify North Korean coal smuggling into a Chinese port, in conjunction with satellite imagery.

News and Media - With the NK Pro Ship Tracker, you’ll have unlimited and instant access to support detailed news reports on North Korea’s latest sanctions violations or in-depth investigations into North Korea’s sanctions-busting practices in the high seas.

Academia/Think Tank - Write detailed policy analysis and reports examining North Korea’s trade practices and how they acquire foreign currency via maritime practices.

Read the Asan Institute report on Russian oil exports to North Korea, citing the NK Pro Ship Tracker.

C4ADS’s first report on North Korea was built in part off data from the NK Pro Ship Tracker: "In Part I, we constructed a baseline dataset from the most prominent aspects of North Korea’s overseas network using an initial sample from the DPRK fleet of cargo ships consisting of 39 vessels identified by the UN Panel of Experts and Leo Byrne of NK News (using the NK Pro ship tracker).”

NK Pro analysis gleaned from Ship Tracker data can also be found in C4ADS’s
“Dispatched: Mapping Overseas Forced Labor in North Korea’s Proliferation Finance System” report.

Government/Military - Let the NK Ship Tracker provide hard data to guide your policy on North Korea sanctions monitoring and enforcement.

Finance - North Korea’s potential integration into your global supply chain leaves you exposed to severe financial and reputational penalties if proper due diligence is not practiced. The NK Ship Tracker can provide critical information on how to avoid sanctioned ships and, ultimately, costly sanctions. Banks and financial institutions can use it for sanctions compliance purposes. I.e. knowing which boats to avoid facilitating financial transactions of, and so on.

Link to sanctions violations landing page: https://signup.nknews.org/sanctionscompliance/

- Outgoing head of UN Panel of Experts, Hugh Griffiths

Track North Korea-linked
ship movements in real time

The NK PRO Ship Tracker combines multiple data streams to allow users to more closely scrutinize North Korea-linked vessels.

FLEET REGULARLY UPDATED

The Ship Tracker comprises a fleet of hundreds of vessels owned or linked to the DPRK, with regular efforts made to ensure the database stays up-to-date.

FILTER BY RISK LEVEL

Our Ship Tracker lets you filter the fleet database according to a bespoke risk ranking based on a wide range of specialist metrics.

EXTENSIVE MOVEMENT DATA

Movement data is recorded on an hourly frequency, with full sailing history going back as far as 2013 in many cases.

The tracker combines historical data dating back to 2013, Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel positions updated every hour, inspection records, ship biographies, and histories to help keep track of the DPRK’s shifting merchant fleet.

Unlike other globally-focused maritime data providers, the NK PRO Ship Tracker's database of vessels is maintained by DPRK country specialists. And it's backed up with regular news and analysis on North Korean maritime developments, written by NK PRO researchers.

The Aviation Tracker

The Aviation Tracker tracks commercial flights to, from, and within North Korea.

The world’s only North Korea-specific tool for observing flights going into and out of the DPRK.

Track commercial flights to, from, and within North Korea.

The Aviation Tracker is designed to help you measure the North’s economic activities--especially the transportation of sanctioned materials--as well as understand shifting trends in tourism, and visualize North Korea’s diplomatic relations.

Using radio technology, visual sightings and other open sources, the NK Pro Aviation Tracker provides comprehensive information on the movement of aircraft to, from and within North Korea. Based on historical data going back to 1970, our flight data comes from a unique combination of three sources aggregated in a way not used anywhere else.

Some examples of how you can use the tracker:

Kim Jong Un’s bodyguards arrive in Hanoi on Air Koryo IL-76 cargo plane
In unusual move, five Air Koryo planes head to Vladivostok on Monday
U.S.A.F. cargo plane left Pyongyang on Saturday morning, flight purpose unknown
Amid increased sanctions, Air Koryo flights decreased by 22% in 2017: data
Orascom private jet pays unreported trip to North Korea

The NK PRO Ship Tracker

With shipping movements providing insight into key vectors through which cargo and trade connected to North Korea moves, the NK PRO Ship Tracker provides primary source data which can facilitate a wide range of research efforts.

Including profiles on every vessel within the NK PRO Ship Tracker database, the tool can tell users:

- Information on why a vessel is being tracked
- Previous company and name information
- Coordinates for all previous positions
- Record of the vessel’s safety inspections in some cases dating back over 17 years

Better understand North Korea's
maritime sector

EXTENSIVE FLEET DATABASE

Comprising ships suspected of connections to the DPRK by NK PRO researchers, those mentioned in United Nations Panel of Expert Reports, as well as vessels designated or under investigation by countries around the world, the Ship Tracker is a comprehensive resource for anyone trying to understand the DPRK maritime sector.

Individual ship pages reveal a record of each vessel’s safety inspections in some cases dating back over 17 years. The data helps researchers understand which ports and jurisdictions have come into contact with a vessel at the click of a button.

INCLUDES SHIP INSPECTION RECORDS

A port database includes profiles on shipping facilities throughout the DPRK, as well as in neighboring countries where North Korean vessel movements have been historically recorded.

PORT DATABASE DETAILS DPRK FACILITIES

A research area of growing importance

For those in compliance, due diligence, and proliferation-focused research, understanding DPRK vessel movements is of growing importance.

Track North Korea-linked
ship movements in real-time

The NK PRO Ship Tracker combines multiple data streams to allow users to more closely scrutinize North Korea-linked vessels.

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