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		</div><p>The US has seized a North Korean cargo ship which it said was used to violate international sanctions.</p>
<p>The Wise Honest, North Korea’s second largest cargo ship, was initially detained during an April 2018 stop in Indonesia and will be moved to American Samoa, Justice Department officials said.</p>
<p>Officials made the announcement hours after North Korea fired two suspected short-range missiles toward the sea, a second weapons launch in five days and a possible signal that stalled talks over its nuclear weapons programme are in trouble.</p>
<p>Justice Department lawyers laid out the case for confiscating the ship in a complaint filed in New York, arguing that payments for maintenance and operation of the vessel were channelled through US financial institutions in violation of American law.</p>
<p><em>“This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service,”</em> said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the Justice Department’s top national security official.</p>
<p>The timing of the complaint was unrelated to the missile launch, US officials said.</p>
<p>The 581ft Wise Honest was used to transport North Korean coal to China, Russia and other countries, generating badly needed revenue to a country that is under UN sanctions because of its nuclear weapons programme.</p>
<p>North Korea sought to disguise the ship’s operations by listing various other countries for its nationality and the origin of its cargo, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>Indonesian authorities intercepted and seized the Wise Honest in the East China Sea a month after it was photographed at the port of Nampo, North Korea, where it took on a load of coal.</p>
<p>The US has prosecuted people and businesses for violating sanctions but has never before seized a North Korean ship. The country will have an opportunity to contest the seizure in court. If the US prevails, it will be able to sell the vessel.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held two summits focused on the North’s nuclear programme but have made no discernible progress toward a deal that would eliminate its weapons.</p>
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