3 HELD OVER EXPORT BID OF DPRK MISSILE KNOW HOW TO MYANMAR

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090630TDY01304.htm

The Yomiuri Shimbun

YOKOHAMA--Kanagawa prefectural police arrested three people Monday over an attempt to illegally export to Myanmar a magnetic measuring device believed necessary for developing long-range ballistic missile systems on instructions from North Korea, the police said.

Arrested on suspicion of violating the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law were Lee Kyoung Ho, 41, of Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, president of trading firm Toko Boeki; Miaki Katsuki, 75, of Setagaya Ward, president of a manufacturing firm; and Yasuhiko Muto, 57, of Nerima Ward, president of an export agency.

The police initially thought the company was trying to export the device to North Korea itself via Myanmar, but they then found out the content of the order from a North Korea-aligned Hong Kong-based firm.

As the police now suspect the firm has exported other missile development-related equipment to Myanmar, they believe North Korea was attempting to promote the transfer of missile technologies, such as its Taepodong system, to Myanmar.


The Yomiuri Shimbun

YOKOHAMA--Kanagawa prefectural police arrested three people Monday over an attempt to illegally export to Myanmar a magnetic measuring device believed necessary for developing long-range ballistic missile systems on instructions from North Korea, the police said.

Arrested on suspicion of violating the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law were Lee Kyoung Ho, 41, of Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, president of trading firm Toko Boeki; Miaki Katsuki, 75, of Setagaya Ward, president of a manufacturing firm; and Yasuhiko Muto, 57, of Nerima Ward, president of an export agency.

The police initially thought the company was trying to export the device to North Korea itself via Myanmar, but they then found out the content of the order from a North Korea-aligned Hong Kong-based firm.

As the police now suspect the firm has exported other missile development-related equipment to Myanmar, they believe North Korea was attempting to promote the transfer of missile technologies, such as its Taepodong system, to Myanmar.

According to the police, the three conspired to export the magnetic measuring device to Myanmar via Malaysia around January 2009 at a price of about 7 million yen without seeking approval from the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry.

Export of the device is restricted under the so-called Catch-all Control that prohibits exports of products that could be used for weapons of mass destruction.

Previously, around September 2008, the company had also tried to export the same instrument to Myanmar's Second Industry Ministry. Both attempts to export the device were aborted immediately before shipment when METI notified the company that it had failed to submit an export application.

According to investigation sources, the prefectural police have analyzed material they seized during a search of Toko Boeki in February this year.

The illegal export attempts to Myanmar were based on an order by the Beijing office of New East International Trading Ltd. based in Hong Kong around spring 2008. The firm is believed to be under the direct control of the Second Economic Committee of Pyongyang's Workers' Party of Korea. The committee is responsible for the party's military procurement.

The company's Pyongyang office has been included in a METI-announced blacklist of companies believed to have been involved in the development of weapons of mass destruction.

Diplomatic ties between Myanmar and North Korea were severed after a 1983 terrorist attack by North Korean agents in Yangon, but the two countries resumed ties in 2007. In 2004 a high-ranking U.S. government official revealed that North Korea had proposed the sale of missiles to Myanmar.

(Jun. 30, 2009)