CHANGE: China halts oil product exports to North Korea in November as sanctions bite.

Beijing also imported no iron ore, coal or lead from North Korea in November, the second full month of the latest trade sanctions imposed by U.N. China, the main source of North Korea’s fuel, did not export any gasoline, jet fuel, diesel or fuel oil to its isolated neighbor last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday.

November was the second straight month China exported no diesel or gasoline to North Korea. The last time China’s jet fuel shipments to Pyongyang were at zero was in February 2015.

“This is a natural outcome of the tightening of the various sanctions against North Korea,” said Cai Jian, an expert on North Korea at Fudan University in Shanghai. The tightening “reflects China’s stance,” he said.

OR IS IT? Chinese ships accused of breaking sanctions on North Korea.

Chinese vessels are secretly trading oil products with North Korea in violation of UN sanctions, diplomats have confirmed.

The news is likely to embarrass China and raise questions about its record of enforcing sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

Diplomats from an Asian country confirmed information published this week in the South Korean press that such trade persists despite sanctions.

Last month the US Treasury published satellite photos of ships linked to each other at sea, apparently trading oil. Chosun, the prominent South Korean newspaper, on Tuesday cited people within South Korea’s government saying 30 such hookups had been spotted by spy satellites since October.

The clandestine oil trade apparently started soon after new sanctions capped the amount of oil products North Korea was allowed to import. 

It’s complicated.