HMCS Regina to monitor sanctions on North Korea

HMCS Regina and NRU Asterix conduct a Replenishment at Sea during Operation Projection in the Indian Ocean. Photo by Cpl Stuart Evans, BORDEN Imaging Services

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This month, the Canadian Armed Forces are deploying ships and a maritime patrol aircraft, under Operation Neon, to ensure sanctions are imposed against North Korea.

Operation Neon is Canada’s contribution to a coordinated multinational effort to support the implementation of those United Nations Security Council sanctions.

These UN sanctions, imposed between 2006 and 2017, aim to pressure North Korea to abandon its weapons of mass destruction programs and respond to North Korean nuclear weapon tests and ballistic missile launches.

The renewed CAF contribution to the multinational effort to counter UN sanctions evasion will be a CP-140 Aurora, crew and supporting personnel operating from Japan, and up to three CAF members embedded permanently into the Enforcement Coordination Cell within the multinational staff Headquarters. HMCS Regina and Naval Replenishment Unit Asterix will join the international maritime monitoring mission later this month.

During 2019 and 2020, and into 2021, Canada will periodically deploy military ships, aircraft and personnel to conduct surveillance operations to identify suspected maritime sanctions evasion activities, in particular ship-to-ship ­transfers of fuel and other commodities banned by the United Nations Security Council resolutions (UNSCR). This contribution will bolster the integrity of the global sanction regime against North Korea.