SEOUL: Is the aluminum being used for missile tubes or bicycles? Will the chemical go into rocket fuel or pesticide?
These are the types of questions countries might be asking as they try to obey a new UN resolution that orders them to crack down on companies supplying North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programmes.
Some analysts say enforcing the resolution passed on Saturday will be tough because many materials used to make weapons are also found in everyday household goods. And the North Korean companies dealing the goods are often shadowy front companies that are hard to track because of their murky ownership and constantly changing names.
Paik Hak-soon, North Korea expert at Sejong Institute, a think-tank outside Seoul, said the UN resolution— which aims to punish the North for an alleged nuclear test— was mainly political.
“You will have huge problems in terms of how to interpret enforcement and under what categories the items should be included,” Paik said. “There will be serious problems in selecting what items to pursue and to what extent.”
The US-initiated resolution— passed unanimously by the UN Security Council— tells countries to freeze the funds or assets of people or companies that are providing support to the reclusive North’s programs for making ballistic missiles and nukes.
North Korea’s UN Ambassador Pak Gil Yon walked out after the resolution was passed, accusing the Security Council of ‘gangster-like’ action.
Last year, the US Department of Treasury named eight North Korean companies whose assets should be frozen because they were allegedly dealing in weapons of mass destruction. The businesses included the Pyongyang-based firms Hesong Trading Corp., Tosong Technology Trading Corp. and Korea Complex Equipment Import Corp.
Americans were forbidden from doing business with the eight companies, and US officials said bank accounts or financial assets belonging to them would be frozen in US banks.
Last year, Washington claimed that Banco Delta Asia SARL— a bank in the Chinese territory of Macau— was being used by North Korea for money laundering. The US banned transactions between the bank and American financial institutions.
The new UN resolution doesn’t apply to assets involving foodstuffs, medicine and fees for rent, taxes, insurance and other similar services.
Trying to figure out why the North Koreans are buying certain goods will be difficult, said Bertil Lintner, author of the book “Great Leader, Dear Leader: Demystifying North Korea Under the Kim Clan”.
The North Koreans are masters at buying dual-purpose goods for their weapons programmes, said Lintner, who has tracked the North’s network of companies in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand.—AP
