Canadian mission helps enforce North Korea sanctions
Global News
Global News recently joined a Royal Canadian Air Force aerial patrol enforcing United Nations sanctions against North Korea in the South China and Yellow seas.
It’s become a morning ritual for Royal Canadian Air Force personnel based in Okinawa, Japan. Several times each week, around 15 members climb aboard their ageing CP-140 Aurora aircraft just after dawn, depart the U.S. Kadena Air Base on the southern tip of Japan, and begin patrolling the waters around North Korea.
Their mission – to enforce sanctions targeting North Korea’s nuclear weapons program at a time when experts say dictator Kim Jong Un has never been in a stronger position.
North Korea regularly receives illegal maritime shipments, which provide vital resources and revenue to sustain its ruling regime and advance its nuclear weapons program.
Global News recently joined a patrol on the Aurora aircraft that first entered service back in the 1980s and is showing its age. The plane’s interior still contains ashtrays and nicotine stains on the ceiling, but the aircraft has been retrofitted with the latest surveillance cameras and radar technology, which are used to scan the sea for suspicious ships and activity.
“The information that we’re gathering on a day-to-day basis is super important for the allies to interpret, in order to enforce those sanctions,” said Brig.-Gen. Jeff Davis, Deputy Commander of Force Generation at 1 Canadian Air Division based in Winnipeg.
Davis has served with the RCAF for more than 35 years and spent nearly 3,300 hours flying aboard the Aurora across five continents. But this operation is unique.
“We use a multitude of sensors – from radar to visual to the cameras we have on board,” Davis explained. “And we go out and we try to find those vessels which are in close proximity to each other and may be doing ship-to-ship transfers of fuel.”
As the Aurora reached its cruising altitude of around 5,000 feet, some of its crew members pointed cameras out the windows towards the sea below; others stared at radar screens while furiously taking notes.
The company said the incident is currently under investigation and information is limited, but it confirms that local authorities have been notified.
A crowd of Ubisoft workers and supporters held a rally, urging the video game developer to reopen the studio that was closed earlier this month after a successful union drive.
American Olympian Katie Uhlaender was hoping to be the first woman to compete in the Winter Games six times for the U.S., but fell just short of qualifying.
The U.S. currently has multiple rounds of tariffs on key sectors of the Canadian economy, including steel, aluminum, autos and lumber.
Cree Nation of Mistissini Chief Michael Petawabano is urging members of the community to stay in their homes and lock their doors as police investigate.
Exceptions under the trade deal, known as USMCA in the U.S. and CUSMA in Canada, protect Canada from the heaviest impacts of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.
Sixteen people were killed and 13 were injured when a truck driver went through a stop sign and into the path of the junior hockey team's bus at a rural intersection.
Though a complete freeze is near impossible, a mixture of frozen surface water and mist can create the appearance that Niagara Falls has frozen.
The local police say they were called to a private residence in the Atikamekw community of Manawan on Sunday, and discovered two bodies.
The Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News also found half of Canadians would trust Prime Minister Mark Carney to handle a potential military threat from the U.S.
Four adults face charges after a trespassing investigation at Western University led to a loaded firearm and hazardous chemicals near campus, police say.
The Federal Reserve pushed the pause button on its interest rate cuts Wednesday, leaving its key rate unchanged at about 3.6 per cent after lowering it three times last year.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is in the process of buying a building owned by Jim Pattison Developments to use as an ICE processing facility.