Canada will deploy a patrol aircraft to Japan this month to monitor North Korea’s illicit maritime activities in violation of U.N. sanctions, Tokyo’s Defense Ministry announced Monday. 

Canada’s CP-140 Aurora patrol aircraft will carry out surveillance against ship-to-ship transfers involving DPRK vessels and other illegal activity from an unspecified date later this month to early April, according to the statement. 

The aircraft will operate out of the Kadena Air Base in Japan, the ministry said.

Japan’s government welcomed the deployment and said that its defense forces are cooperating with the international community to ensure the effectiveness of U.N. Security