SINGAPORE —The Dawnlight, a steel-hulled bulk carrier outfitted with large gray cranes, looks no different from the many other container ships that ply East Asia’s busy shipping lanes, heading in and out of the bustling port of Singapore.
But the Dawnlight is not just any container ship: It’s a ship that has been suspected of illegal dealings with North Korea. It was blacklisted by the United States last year because it was owned by a Singaporean company alleged to have helped Pyongyang with its weapons program, and then sold two months later, according to the company.
The ship continues to shuttle between Singapore and the Korean Peninsula, with occasional diversions to China, according to data reviewed by The Washington Post.
The Dawnlight has traveled to the peninsula nine times over the past 31 / 2 months, the data shows. Its ultimate destinations were unclear, though, because even on trips when the crew logged a North Korean port as its goal, the radar and satellite data examined by The Post showed it appearing to turn around off the coast of South Korea and make its way back without having called at a port.
The Dawnlight’s previous owners insist the ship has carried only commercial cargo. The new, Hong Kong-based owner could not be contacted.