A Russian cargo ship has returned to a North Korean port that allegedly facilitates arms transfers for use against Ukraine, according to NK Pro analysis of satellite imagery, likely signaling a restart of the shipping operation after a one-month pause.

Planet Labs imagery shows a ship matching the size and appearance of the Russia-flagged Lady R docked at Pier 1 of North Korea’s Rason Port on Sunday. 

It appeared to arrive with blue objects covering its deck, likely containers from Russia for offloading at the pier. Since Russian ships started arriving at Rason last August, they have appeared to offload containers at Pier 1 before picking up containers at Pier 2 for delivery to Russia.

The cargo ship appeared to pick up containers at Pier 2 on Tuesday and was gone by Wednesday morning.

The last time a vessel appeared in near-daily satellite imagery at either pier was on Feb. 12, while there was no activity at Pier 2 to suggest outgoing shipments during the apparent pause.

It’s unlikely shipments occurred at night since the number of containers at Pier 2 typically increases over the course of multiple days before ships arrive to pick them up.

Objects started to appear again at Pier 2 between March 8 and 9 and more by March 10, indicative of containers arriving by train from inside North Korea in preparation for an outgoing shipment.

It is likely that the ship at Pier 1 on Sunday was the Lady R, since medium-resolution Planet Labs imagery shows the ship’s bridge is located at its front end — a less common setup for cargo ships but one seen on two of the four known ships participating in the DPRK-Russia operation since last year.

The other ship with this setup, the Angara, has been at Zhoushan Xinya Shipyard in China since early February.

NK Pro analysis suggests the Lady R picked up containers at Russia’s Vostochny Port on Feb. 8 before anchoring in waters east of Vladivostok from around Feb. 10. 

It stayed there for weeks but disappeared from the spot between March 7 and 9, just before arriving at Rason. Its deck appeared full of likely containers throughout its time anchored there.

Planet Labs imagery shows that a small ship joined up with the likely Lady R on the morning of March 7 while it was still anchored near Vladivostok, possibly to deliver fuel or supplies ahead of its trip to North Korea.

The identity of the small ship is unknown as it did not broadcast automatic identification system (AIS) data at the time, unlike a similar case in January when two small oil tankers, the Orient and Lidoga, linked up with the Lady R.

The Lady R only returned to the DPRK shipping operation in February after making two trips to Rason in October and staying in Vladivostok over winter for maintenance. 

Its trip to Rason over the weekend was only its fourth confirmed visit there, part of at least 33 total by four Russian cargo ships — the Lady R, Angara, Maia-1 and Maria — since the DPRK-Russia maritime shipping operation began in Aug. 2023. 

The U.S. revealed evidence in October that ships were delivering containers from Rason to a Russian naval port at Dunay before being moved by train to weapons depots linked to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

NK Pro has found that Dunay stopped receiving the cargo ships in late December. They started moving between Rason and Russia’s Vostochny Port in October and appeared to exclusively use that port from January until the early February pause.

The U.S. has sanctioned all four ships as well as the Russian ports, but none are designated under U.N. sanctions.

It is possible that the Lady R will deliver containers it picked up from Rason to Vostochny later this week.

NK Pro cannot confirm what kind of cargo the ship is unloading or picking up from Rason, and it is not known to have traveled to the Dunay naval port, giving Russia cover to deny that it is involved in weapons transfers.

However, Russia used the Lady R to deliver military equipment to South Africa in Dec. 2022, and the U.S. has accused it of delivering Russian weapons. 

The Lady R notably delivered containers between Rason and Vostochny Port at the same time as the other three ships were moving between Rason, Vostochny and Dunay, further evidence that the vessel facilitated DPRK arms transfers.

Ships matching the appearance of the Maia-1 and Maria appeared to remain anchored east of Vladivostok on Sunday, but they could also return to the DPRK operation in the coming weeks.

Washington has said North Korea is sending artillery shells and ballistic missiles to Russia, an assessment experts have echoed after analyzing Russian media and missile debris in Ukraine.

It is still unclear what Russia is sending to North Korea in return, but the U.S. has said it could include missile, satellite and nuclear-related technology and that Pyongyang is interested in receiving fighter jets and military technical assistance.

Edited by Bryan Betts

Updated on March 14 at 9:37 a.m. KST to include details of the ship picking up containers at Rason on March 12