CBS News on board as Chinese Intercept to the Air Force Air Force Tracking Tracking Boats North Koreans

Eastern China Sea – On the deep blue waters of the Eastern China Sea, a Canadian military plane examines the vast extension below. The CP-140 Aurora, a maritime patrol plane operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force, is mainly designed to hunt enemy submarines, but this crew is in a different mission: the monitoring of North Korean ships involved in the illicit trade that violates the sanctions of the United Nations.

“There are definitely some ships that seem more suspicious than others,” said Captain Dominic Knerr, the aurora pilot, to CBS News.

Operating in the international airspace on international waters, the mission, known as Operation Neon, carries the plane near the Chinese territory, often causing a dramatic response of Beijing, which intercepts the dawn on multiple occasions during its mission while a CBS news team is on board.

Neon Operation is Canada’s contribution To a coordinated multinational effort to support the implementation of the sanctions of the UN Security Council against North Korea, while the UN Member States seek to apply pressure on Pyongyang to leave their programs to develop weapons of mass destruction.

Neon is a mission of intelligence compilation: they take photos, videos and record suspicious ships in the Eastern China Sea, and then share the information with the coordination cell of the United Nations application.

The mission is based on the Kadena Air Base in Japan, the largest base of the United States Air Force in the Asia and the Pacific region, known as the “Pacific Key Stone” due to its strategic importance.

During the mission, a Chinese supersonic combat plane appears and approaches the Canadian Air Force plane.

Infelio with the Canadian presence, the Chinese pilot greets the Captain of Aurora, who responds calmly: “I am a Canadian plane that operates in the international airspace, carrying out the duties of all nations.”

There is no verbal response of the Chinese, but the Chinese combat plane shades the dawn for another 30 minutes or so.

“While things remain professionals and safe, this mission continues incessantly,” says CBS News, Brigade General, Jeff Davis, who orders the Canadian operation.

Shortly after, the Chinese combat plane disappears, but it is just a temporary detention of Chinese actions. A few hours later, another plane appears, this transports missiles. All crew members move in position to document the second intersection.

The Jet, which flies only four wing lengths, less than 200 feet, is approaching more than any Chinese fighter has reached the dawn along its mission.

China has been North’s economic life line since international sanctions were imposed on Pyongyang in 2006, after its first nuclear test.

But sanctions have clearly not had the desired effect. Russia and China used to the nuclear development of North Korea, but not anymore.

China has been a vital Economic lifelin for the Kim regime In Pyongyang, supporting the economy of North Korea. More recently, Russia has also played an important role, giving northern oil in exchange for ammunition and troops deployed in support of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The Kim dynasty has long expected the world to accept North Korea as nuclear energy. It is currently estimated that it has approximately 50 nuclear weapons, and is about to develop a long -range missile capable of delivering a nuclear eyelet to the United States continent.

Near August, while meeting with the new president of South Korea, President Trump said he wanted Another meeting With Kim Jong Un. They gathered three times during Mr. Trump’s first mandate, but the peaks did not get results to denuclearize North Korea.

Kim has said since he is open to continue the dialogue only if Trump leaves the “absurd obsession of his government with denuclearization.”

While these Chinese interceptions are expected on the mission of application of the application of international sanctions on the Eastern Sea of ​​China, the risks to the Canadian crew increase undeniably.

“You can add some stressful factors,” Knerr tells CBS News. “Sometimes they are trying to maneuver, but we try to mitigate how best we can and keep the plane safe.”

After nine hours of intelligence collection, the dawn finally returns to the base, complete mission, in the most difficult circumstances.