Two of North Korea’s sanctioned oil tankers headed past South Korea and Japan this month, headed in a southeastward direction away from the Korean Peninsula, the NK Pro ship tracker shows.

The DPRK’s fleet of oil tankers – whether sanctioned or unsanctioned – typically no longer broadcast their positions, though heavy traffic around the southern tip of the peninsula would likely make the trip more perilous without signalling some limited location information.

While the two sanctioned ships will likely not make their eventual locations apparent, both were designed by the UN and the U.S