China may be be helping North Korea circumvent international oil sanctions designed to pressure the regime into dismantling its nuclear weapons program, Japanese officials suggested Tuesday.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry released photographs of a North Korean tanker and “a small vessel of unknown nationality flying a flag that seemed like [a] Chinese-flag,” connected by a pair of hoses. The images renew suspicions that Asia’s leading Communist power is undermining Western efforts to cripple North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

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