The rusting seaport called Kholmsk is one of the sleepiest harbors in Russia's Far East, a place that sees more full moons than coal ships in a typical year. Yet for a few weeks late last summer, this tiny port was chockablock with vessels hauling outlawed North Korean coal.
At least four ships of different flags showed up in August and September to dump North Korean anthracite onto a pile near the harbor's southern tip, maritime records show. Then, six other ships arrived to pick up coal from the same spot and deliver it to foreign markets. Between the voyages, the harbor was witness to a kind of magic trick: Illicit North Korean coal was transformed into Russian coal, which can be legally sold anywhere.
Some of it ended up in the most unexpected of places: South Korea and Japan, two of Pyongyang's main rivals.
"They literally 'laundered' the coal," said a Western diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe new details from a confidential
U.N. investigation of the incident. "It's the same tactic criminals use to launder ill-gotten cash."