On an overcast day
in May 2020, a satellite captures
this image over the sea near Taiwan. At first it appears
to just show clouds, until you look closer
and enhance the image. What you see here
is a transfer of oil to a ship that will end up
in North Korea in a possible violation
of international sanctions. Covert oil deliveries are
crucial to North Korea’s economy and its ballistic
and nuclear weapons program. Our investigation focuses
on one way oil is getting to North Korea. We followed the movements
of a single tanker and the opaque corporate
structures that surround it. We spent months unraveling
the story of the ship. It’s called the Diamond 8,
and it’s been identified by the United Nations multiple
times for its illicit trips to North Korea. We visited businesses, ports,
and tracked tankers at sea, all to find out who was
behind these voyages. What we discovered were
elaborate networks, many that connect to the
Singapore-headquartered oil trader the Winson Group,
primarily through its Taiwan operation
Winson Shipping. “Catering to your needs. Winson Group.” Our investigation, which
includes findings from a new report by the research
groups RUSI and C4ADS, reveals for the first time how
the Winson Group plays a role in North Korea’s
bid to get oil. The path from a single tanker
to Kim Jong-un’s regime is convoluted. When we laid it all out
in a flow chart, it looks like this — so
we’re going to simplify it by focusing on the Diamond 8. And we’ll also look at two
tankers that transport oil to it — the Ever Grandeur
and the Superstar. These ships are connected by
more than just their meet-ups at sea. They have ties to a handful
of people who on the surface seem unconnected,
but when we looked deeper, we found that most of the
key individuals are linked to the same village in
China’s Fujian Province. And they all have connections
to both Winson Shipping and the Winson Group. Let’s first look at how the
oil gets to North Korea. We analyzed photos and past
videos of the Diamond 8, matched them with
satellite imagery and took measurements to
create a visual fingerprint. This allowed us to follow the
Diamond 8’s movements last year. We confirmed our findings
with experts who track oil tankers
in North Korean ports. We’re going to show you two
of its trips to North Korea. The first one, in February
2020, starts here, idling empty in the waters
off of Fujian province, a region where oil smuggling
has historically been rampant. It heads out and picks up oil
from the Ever Grandeur near Taiwan and goes
straight to North Korea. That trip is pretty direct. The one we uncovered in
May 2020, not so much. But here’s what we know. The Diamond 8 sets off
down Taiwan’s coast. It passes a port
on April 30, where a second, much larger
red tanker is loading up oil. That tanker, called
Superstar at the time, follows the Diamond 8
to international waters, according to the ship’s
transmissions. Cloudy skies that day appear
to shield the operation from satellites, but as we
saw, a hole in the clouds reveals the oil transfer. For three weeks, the Diamond 8
doesn’t enter any ports. It’s mostly just lingering
in open waters. Then it sails north. Its required
transmission signal disappears for eight days,
but we found it during that window in this
port in North Korea. The dimensions and features
match the Diamond 8, a finding confirmed
by experts. When we spot it again,
its signal is back on and it’s back near Taiwan,
meeting up with the Superstar to get more oil. We wanted to know who was
behind the Ever Grandeur and Superstar, the two ships
that supplied the oil to the Diamond 8, so we
looked at shipping records to examine their history
and management. Let’s start with
the Ever Grandeur. We actually went and
filmed it while it sat idle in the port of Kaohsiung
in Taiwan. Only five miles away
is the company that controls the ship. It’s called Glory Sparkling. Chien Yuan Ju, a Winson
Shipping executive, told us they didn’t set up
Glory Sparkling. But we found clues the
companies are interconnected. Glory Sparkling’s address
was on floors owned by Winson Shipping. Its address changed only after
we started asking questions. And Glory Sparkling’s website,
it was registered with the name of a Winson
Shipping employee. We also have evidence showing
that a high-ranking Winson Shipping manager
named Zuo Fasheng, seen here with the Winson
Group’s founder, Tony Tung, has also worked for
Glory Sparkling. We found his signature on
documents for both companies, including on paperwork
for the Ever Grandeur. Officials from Panama,
where the Ever Grandeur is registered, told us
their records show Zuo Fasheng is currently listed
as the operator of the ship. Now let’s take a closer
look at the Superstar, the second ship supplying
oil to the Diamond 8. It’s actually much more
straightforward. Winson Shipping owns it,
and they confirmed the May 2020 transfer to us,
but told us the ship was leased to someone else when
the operation took place. But they haven’t said who. Together, these details
indicate how Winson Shipping is connected to both
ships that provided oil to the Diamond 8, even after
the ship had been publicly outed by the UN for
illicitly delivering oil to North Korea. So let’s look at the
Diamond 8 itself. Winson Shipping actually
owned it until 2016. And from then until 2018,
every company linked to it listed their addresses
and office space as owned by Winson Shipping. When we talked to their
shipping manager, he said that Winson Shipping
sold the ship years ago, but he also made
a bold statement: It’s “ten thousand
percent impossible” that it ever went
to North Korea. That’s not true. Our investigation
and U.N. reports show the Diamond 8 has
been to North Korea at least four times
since late 2019. So finding out exactly who
is behind the Diamond 8 is not straightforward
or easy. To learn more, we had
to look to Indonesia. The registered owner
of the ship is Tan Jeok Nam, a 62-year-old
retiree who lives here in a modest neighborhood. He told us that he was simply
a sailor who couldn’t afford to buy the $1.4 million vessel. Something clearly
doesn’t add up. So we set out to find
who sold him the ship — at least on paper. When we reviewed
the bill of sale, we noticed the seller
appears to be the daughter of Hong Kong-based
businessman Tsoi Ming Chi. Tsoi is also linked
to the company that manages the Diamond 8. When we visited that
company in Indonesia, there was no sign of
a shipping business. It’s another dead end. So back to the retired
Indonesian sailor, Tan. There’s one more thing
you need to know about him. He actually used to work
on oil tankers. One of the tankers belonged
to a Hong Kong company owned by the late
Wong Tin Chuk. Wong, Tsoi — these
two businessmen have something else in common. They both have links
to Winson companies, including through a leased
office space, mortgages, and have exchanged ships
with each other, according to a report
by research groups RUSI and C4ADS. And there’s a
personal nexus, too. Wong and Tsoi are tied to the
Winson Group’s founder, Tony Tung, through
the same village in China’s Fujian region,
population 2,600. In fact, all three belonged
to the village’s hometown club and the alumni association
of the same middle school. Two of them have been accused
of smuggling in the past. Take Tony Tung,
for example. He’s faced multiple smuggling
and bribery investigations. His only conviction
was later overturned. Soon after he founded the
Winson Group in the 1990s, Tung and his brothers
were accused of smuggling cigarettes
and oil into China, according to court documents
and state media. One of Tung’s brothers was
sentenced to life in prison. He served three years
and was later pardoned. At the time of the trial,
Tung had already left China. Over the last five years,
Tung has stepped down from executive positions
at the Winson Group and handed over the reins to
his daughter, Crystal Tung. In a statement to
The Times, she said, “The allegations against
Winson Group are unfounded and false. Winson Group did not take
any actions in violation of applicable sanctions
against North Korea or any sanctioned countries.” After The Times asked
questions about the company’s involvement in oil
deliveries to North Korea, Winson Shipping Taiwan
changed its name to Zheng Yu Shipping. Chien Yuan Ju, the executive
who spoke to The Times, was also replaced as the
official representative of the company. The mysterious retired sailor,
the oil trader, the maze of companies — taken together,
they expose an elaborate system that conceals one way oil
is getting to North Korea despite some of the strongest
sanctions in history, and how Kim Jong-un
continues to defy the international community. As for the Diamond 8,
it’s back in Fujian, China, awaiting its next orders. Its operators are now
using a new trick: transmitting a fake ship name
to hide its true identity. “Hey, this is Christoph,
one of the reporters on this story. We spent months investigating
who is providing oil to a sanctions-busting tanker that is delivering oil
to North Korea. We looked at a lot
of satellite images, reviewed corporate records
and interviewed key players. It was a massive
team effort involving reporters in four countries. What you’ve just watched
is only a small part of our reporting, and
you can find more details at nytimes.com/
visualinvestigations. If you have any other
info on this story, we’d love to hear from you. And, of course, if you like
what you’re seeing, subscribe to
The New York Times. Thanks.”
