Chinese trade numbers for August show the country imported a large quantity of coal in August, in possible breach of UN resolutions and the country’s own laws.

Newly released figures the Beijing’s General Administration of Customs show imports of 1.6 million tonnes of DPRK coal valued at over USD$130 million.

The trade would violate Beijing’s February decree that it would no longer import the commodity for the remainder of 2017.

“(I’m) surprised they reported it as some rumors on Chinese imports but nothing definitive,” Anthony Ruggiero, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told NK News.

“This