N. Korea's refined petroleum imports from China nose-dive in Aug.: UN report

North Korea's imports of refined petroleum from China in August plummeted to about one-tenth of the amount in July, a United Nations report showed Thursday.

According to the latest updates on the UN Security Council webpage on its sanctions committee on North Korea, the communist country imported about 142 tons of refined petroleum from China in August.

The volume marks only 10 percent of the 1,498 tons the country imported from the neighboring country in July, the report showed.

The August volume also represents a plunge of nearly 94 percent from the amount North Korea was reported to have imported from China in August last year.

In August this year, North Korea brought in 32 tons of refined petroleum from Russia, also marking a fall of nearly 99 percent from August last year, the report also showed.

The combined volume of refined petroleum North Korea was reported to have imported from the two neighboring countries in the January-August period this year stood at 17,294 tons, or 129,706 barrels, according to the UN Security Council figures.

Under the Security Council Resolution 2397, which was adopted in 2017 in response to the North's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile in November that year, member countries' shipments of refined petroleum to North Korea were capped at 500,000 barrels per year. Under the resolution, member countries are also required to provide the Security Council with regular reports on their exports of the item to North Korea. (Yonhap)