HMAS Ballarat serving short stint on NKorean sanctions patrol

Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Ballarat has joined the international effort to enforce United Nations Security Council sanctions on North Korea.

CAPTION: HMAS Ballarat and her embarked MH-60R helicopter on the ship’s south-east Asian deployment, May 2021. Photo by Leading Seaman Jarrod Mulvihill.

Ballarat is currently on a two-month regional presence deployment throughout southeast and northeast Asia, after leaving Sydney on 11 April.

Ballarat’s support to sanctions enforcement marks the second Australian Defence Force contribution to Operation Argos this year.

Chief of Joint Operations Lieutenant General Greg Bilton said Operation Argos demonstrated Australia’s commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and global rules-based order.

“Australia is committed to the stability and security of our region and will continue to support sanctions on North Korea until it takes concrete steps towards denuclearisation,” Lieutenant General Bilton said.

“HMAS Ballarat will contribute to a multinational force including Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, to monitor and deter illegal ship-to-ship transfers of sanctioned goods.”

This is the fifth deployment of a Royal Australian Navy vessel to Operation Argos since it commenced in 2018.

Australian Defence Force has also deployed a maritime patrol aircraft on eight occasions for Operation Argos.

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