Two sanctioned North Korean oil tankers were loitering very near the Chinese coast during the week, while another appeared to be heading back towards the DPRK from an unknown location.

Their appearance marks a sudden uptick in the number of North Korean oil tankers broadcasting their locations to international tracking systems, after a long period in which they seemingly traveled without transmitting any location information.

But the two oil tankers within Chinese territorial waters could also be putting Beijing in conflict with UN resolutions, the newest iterations of which give member states stop and search