Project profile — Sandstone project - phase II

This project builds on the multi-year effort by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) to generate open source products for public consumption and private stakeholders focused on North Korea’s proliferation networks and illicit maritime activities. Project activities include: (1) developing new analytical tools to provide more robust information about North Korea sanctions evasion activities; (2) conducting investigations into vessels of interest provided to Canada using Sandstone’s open source information and analytical tools to identify key information (such as flag country, ownership and history); (3) producing peer- and legal-reviewed investigations into illicit North Korean sanctions evasion published in major media outlets; (4) providing training and support to key stakeholders in international organizations, governments, and the private sector to improve their capabilities to identify and respond to North Korean sanctions evasion activities; and (5) presenting research, findings and methodologies on North Korean sanctions evasion to the international policy community and the private sector.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) increased detection of and response to maritime sanctions evasion activities by North Korea by Canada, the UN Panel of Experts, partner governments, and the private sector; and (2) increased quality of analyses of North Korean sanctions evasion activities in reports provided to Canada, public investigations that are published, and in reports released by the UN Panel of Experts.

Results achieved at the end of the project (September 2025) include: (1) submitted 172 information products to Canada that identified 55 entities involved in North Korean sanctions evasion networks. Information from these products are referenced on 66 occasions in the reports of the UN Panel of Experts and formed the basis for Canada and its allies to sanction 19 entities; (2) published 23 public reports, many in cooperation with major international media outlets, that prompted hundreds of derivative news articles and millions of views online; (3) developed 4 new analytical tools to strengthen the capacity of RUSI and the Open Source Centre to conduct open source investigations of North Korean maritime sanctions evasion; (4) conducted over 113 briefings on North Korean sanctions evasion activities that engaged over 1,400 people from dozens of governments and international organizations; and (5) conducted 21 training sessions and workshops that engaged over 720 experts from over 41 countries as well as from international organizations.