Report finds illegal exports to N. Korea came directly from Japan, not S. Korea

Posted on : 2019-07-12 16:19 KST Modified on : 2019-07-12 16:19 KST
Bareunmirae Party lawmaker Ha Tae-keung releases analysis of data from Japanese security trade research center
A portion of a report by the Japanese Center for Information on Security Trade Control concerning illegal exports to North Korea coming directly from Japan. (Yonhap News)
A portion of a report by the Japanese Center for Information on Security Trade Control concerning illegal exports to North Korea coming directly from Japan. (Yonhap News)

Strategic materials with possible uses in nuclear and biochemical weapons development have been secretly exported to North Korea from Japan since the 1990s, a report alleges.

Ha Tae-keung, a Bareunmirae Party lawmaker and member of the National Assembly National Defense Committee, announced on July 11 that an analysis of data on “improper exportation incidents” provided by Japan’s Center for Information on Security Trade Control (CISTEC) showed over 30 instances of smuggling to North Korea from Japan between 1996 and 2013. Among the secretly exported items announced by Ha that day were strategic materials that could be used in nuclear development and biochemical weapon production, including DC power supply units, frequency converters, and freeze dryers.

On July 11
On July 11

According to the data, a Japanese business was found to have illegally exported 50kg of sodium fluoride and 50kg of hydrogen fluoride to North Korea, respectively loading it onto a North Korean vessel at the port of Osaka in January 1996 and another in Kobe in February as a special export item. Both hydrogen fluoride and sodium fluoride are subject to international export regulations due to their role as raw materials in chemical and biological weapons, as well as an ingredient in toxic sarin gas. A North Korean cargo vessel visiting to collect emergency relief rice was reportedly used for the smuggling.

The data further mentioned the illegal exportation of three DC power supply units to North Korea by way of Thailand in April 2003. Also recorded was the January 2008 discovery of an attempt to illicitly export a large tank truck – which could be used for missile transportation – to North Korea without approval from the Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry by misrepresenting it as being exported to Busan. CISTEC, the center that drafted the report, is a Japanese non-government organization founded in 1989 that researches and analyzes exports of security-related strategic goods.

“Recently, we’ve been hearing claims from Japan about South Korea illicitly exporting hydrogen fluoride, but what the data show is that Japan is the country that has actually exported hydrogen fluoride to North Korea,” Ha said in a press conference at the National Assembly that day.

“It’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black when the kettle isn’t even black,” he argued.

Ha further warned that Japan would “only become more isolated in the international community if it keeps making these farfetched claims.”

“Japan needs to immediately withdraw these unjust export controls,” he insisted.

By Jang Na-rye, staff reporter

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