Dalian: China has held up an Iranian petroleum shipment heading to North Korea. The shipments are being held at Chinas northeast ports, Dalian and Qingdao.
Last year, Pyongyang signed a contract with Tehran to import about 500,000 tons of crude oil.
Under the North Korea-Iran contract, Pyongyang is to pay Tehran for the condensate, but the condensate itself must be first sent to a Chinese state-run petroleum company. It is unclear what legal basis China is using for holding up the shipments, however, China is said to have asked North Korea to pay about $2m for storage expenses, an industry insider said.