Two North Korean ships briefly appeared near Chinese ports last week, despite providing no location information relating to their starting points or destinations, the NK Pro ship tracker shows.

The DPRK-flagged vessels broadcast their locations for only a short time, despite both seemingly traveling through busy international shipping lanes.

Vessels weighing over 300-tonnes are required to broadcast their positions at all times unless doing so endangers the life of the crew, indicating their journeys were in breach of maritime laws.

The 2295-tonne Hae Bang San briefly broadcast its location headed into China’s