North Korea’s new missile could have come from China

Posted on : 2012-04-20 12:40 KST Modified on : 2012-04-20 12:40 KST
Investigation to take place into whether China violated UN sanctions by providing technology

By Kwon Tae-ho, Washington correspondent

The United Nations launched an investigation into allegations that a missile launcher displayed by the North Korean military at an Apr. 15 parade in Pyongyang was developed with Chinese technology, Britain’s Financial Times reported Thursday.

According to the newspaper, an expert panel established with the UN North Korean Sanctions Committee after the UN Security Council’s resolutions prescribing sanctions against North Korea in 2006 and 2009 suspects the vehicle, which was seen carrying a new missile at a parade for the Day of the Sun holiday celebrating the 100th anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s birth, was a modified version of a design from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

An investigation is now under way to determine if China violated sanctions on North Korea. If China did provide technology after 2006, this would be in contravention of the sanctions.

Some observers claimed the vehicle in question was developed in 2010.

Peterson Institute for International Economics deputy director Marcus Noland said, “If China is seen to be violating Security Council sanctions by helping to militarize North Korea, it puts China in a different light and changes the diplomatic relations between it and South Korea, Japan, and the US.”

But the Financial Times predicted difficulties in determining that the military technology in question was transferred after 2006, when the first sanctions went into effect. Also, there is one Chinese member on the expert panel, which analysts predicted could hamper the investigation and all but eliminate the possibility that any Chinese violations discovered would be included in the panel’s report.

The US foreign affairs magazine Foreign Policy also reported Wednesday on claims that China may be aiding Pyongyang in long-range ballistic missile development.

US Rep. Mike Turner, (R-Ohio), sent a letter Tuesday to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in which he voiced concerns, based on an analysis by missile technology expert Richard Fisher, that the large-scale missile seen at the North Korean military parade was developed with Chinese technology.

Turner is known to have inquired as to whether the US administration had any related evidence and plans to pressure or sanction Beijing in connection with this.

 

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