East China Sea — Over the deep blue waters of the East China Sea, a Canadian military aircraft surveys the vast expanse below. The CP-140 Aurora, a maritime patrol aircraft operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force, is designed primarily to hunt enemy submarines — but this crew is on a different mission: tracking North Korean vessels engaged in illicit trade that violates United Nations sanctions.
“There are definitely some boats that look more suspicious than others,” Captain Dominic Knerr, the pilot of the Aurora, tells CBS News.
Operating in international airspace over international waters, the mission — known as Operation NEON — takes the plane close to Chinese territory, often triggering a dramatic response by Beijing, which intercepts the Aurora on multiple occasions during its mission while a CBS News crew is onboard.
Operation NEON is Canada’s contribution to a coordinated multinational effort to support the implementation of U.N. Security Council sanctions against North Korea, as U.N. member states seek to apply pressure on Pyongyang to abandon its programs developing weapons of mass destruction.
NEON is an intelligence gathering mission — they take photos, video and log suspicious vessels in the East China Sea, and then share the information with the United Nations’ Enforcement Coordination Cell.
The mission is based out of Kadena Air Base in Japan — the largest U.S. Air Force base in the Asia-Pacific region — known as the “keystone of the Pacific” due to its strategic importance.
During the mission, a Chinese supersonic fighter jet appears and approaches the Canadian air force plane.
Unhappy with the Canadian presence, the Chinese pilot hails Aurora’s captain, who calmly responds: “I’m a Canadian aircraft operating in international airspace, carrying out the duties of all nations.”
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There is no verbal reply from the Chinese, but the Chinese fighter jet shadows the Aurora for another 30 minutes or so.
“As long as things remain professional and safe, this mission continues unabated,” Brigadier General Jeff Davis, who commands the Canadian operation, tells CBS News.
Soon after, the Chinese fighter jet disappears, but it’s only a temporary halt to the Chinese actions. A few hours later, another jet appears, this one carrying missiles. All crew members move into position to document the second intercept.
The jet, flying just four wing lengths’ away — less than 200 feet — comes closer than any Chinese fighter has come to the Aurora throughout its mission.
China has been North Korea’s economic lifeline since international sanctions were imposed on Pyongyang in 2006, after its first nuclear test.
But the sanctions clearly have not had the desired effect. Russia and China used to be opposed to North Korea’s nuclear development, but not any more.
Sergei Bobylev/AP 
China has been a vital economic lifeline for the Kim regime in Pyongyang, propping up North Korea’s economy. More recently, Russia has also played a big role, giving the North oil in exchange for ammunition and troops deployed in support of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The Kim dynasty has long hoped to force the world to accept North Korea as a nuclear power. It’s currently estimated to possess approximately 50 nuclear weapons, and is on the verge of developing a long-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the U.S. mainland.
Near the end of August, while meeting South Korea’s new president, President Trump said he wanted another meeting with Kim Jong Un. They met three times during Mr. Trump’s first term, but the summits garnered no results toward denuclearizing North Korea.
Kim has said since that he’s open to continuing the dialogue only if Mr. Trump abandons his government’s “absurd obsession with denuclearization.”
While these Chinese intercepts of the international sanctions enforcement mission over the East China Sea are expected, they undeniably increase the risks for the Canadian crew.
“It can add some stressors,” Knerr tells CBS News. “Sometimes they’re trying to maneuver, but we try to mitigate as best we can and keep the aircraft safe.”
After nine hours of intelligence gathering, the Aurora finally heads back to base — mission complete, under the most trying of circumstances.
