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Prairial Frigate Targets Illicit Ship Transfers Near Japan

French Navy Conducts Monitoring Activities Against Illicit Maritime Operations Near Japan

Back view of a male maritime worker in black high-visibility coveralls, holding a yellow hard hat in one hand and a handheld radio in the other, standing on a weathered wooden dock at sunset, facing a large green-hulled offshore support vessel docked at an industrial port with a yellow gantry crane, shipping containers, and barrels in the foreground and background.
A port worker observes a docked offshore vessel amid French Navy efforts to monitor illicit ship-to-ship transfers in waters surrounding Japan.

From late October, the French Navy frigate PRAIRIAL carried out monitoring and surveillance activities targeting illicit maritime operations, including ship-to-ship transfers involving North Korean-flagged vessels prohibited under United Nations Security Council resolutions. These activities took place in waters surrounding Japan and marked the eighth deployment of a French Navy vessel for such efforts since 2019.

Japan expresses its appreciation for these actions as part of ensuring the effective implementation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions in cooperation with the international community. The activities are directed toward the complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles of all ranges.

Japan continues to conduct information gathering on vessels suspected of violating the resolutions and maintains close coordination with relevant countries and international organizations, including the French Republic.

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