Nations sanctions against its nuclear weapons and missile programmes. The son of a former Taiwanese legislator has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for a scheme that illegally supplied thousands of tons of fuel oil to North Korea.

Huang Chung-wei was sentenced to 28 months in prison by the district court in the southern port city of Kaohsiung on Tuesday. Five others also received prison terms. They were convicted of taking part in loading the fuel onto ships in Taiwan and making the transfers in collaboration with Kwek Kee Seng, a Singaporean businessman wanted by the US whose whereabouts were unknown. Such activity is a violation of Taiwan's Counter-Terrorism Financing Act and other statutes, the court said. Illegal transfers at sea are one of the few ways North Korea, largely isolated from the international community, can obtain fuel because of strict United Nations sanctions against its nuclear weapons and missile programmes. While Taiwan is not a UN member at the insistence of North Korea’s ally China, it has pledged to follow all of the world body's rulings on Pyongyang. (Euronews)