HMS Albion with Marine commandos on board is sailing to waters off the North Korean coast to enforce UN sanctions and take part in joint drills with Britain’s regional allies, the Independent reported.
The Albion will join the HMS Sutherland, which has already been deployed to the area.
Britain’s Defense Ministry earlier said that another warship, HMS Argyll, would be dispatched to the region later this year for a series of joint exercises with Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore.
A UN Security Council resolution bans ship-to-ship transfers of goods destined for the North Korean capital Pyongyang, but some vessels have broken the sanctions.
North Korean Crisis
The tensions around North Korea's nuclear program have remained high over the past year amid Pyongyang’s repeated nuclear and ballistic missile tests in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
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As a response measure, the UNSC has introduced multiple rounds of sanctions against North Korea in order to impede the development of its nuclear program.
The UN Security Council introduced its latest economic sanctions against North Korea in December 2017, banning the export of food and agricultural products, machinery, electrical equipment, and prohibiting Pyongyang from selling or transferring fishing rights and prohibiting the country from selling or transferring fishing rights.
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The resolution also strengthened measures regarding the supply, sale or transfer to North Korea of all refined petroleum products.
Russia, meanwhile, has been looking for ways to end the Korean crisis.