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S. Korean Firm Caught Smuggling Banned Goods into Gaesong

S. Korean Firm Caught Smuggling Banned Goods into Gaesong

Posted October. 11, 2007 03:47,   

한국어

The Unification Ministry caught a South Korean company smuggling strategic goods into the Gaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea without permission. This is the first time this kind of smuggling has been discovered.

A Unification Ministry official confirmed yesterday, “We detected a South Korean resident company in the Gaesong complex manufacturing cloth and thread for use in paraglide chutes. The export of this item is banned. We ordered the company to ‘repatriate’ all the relevant products and materials by the end of this week.”

The term “strategic goods” refers to the goods and materials whose export the Wassenaar Arrangement bans due to their possible use for development and/or production of weapons of mass destruction.

Grand National Party lawmaker Lee Myeong-gyu on the Commerce, Industry and Energy Committee first made the information public yesterday. The National Intelligence Service, according to Rep. Lee, informed the Commerce Ministry and the Unification Ministry on June 5 of the possibility that a South Korean manufacturer in the North Korean Gaesong complex was exporting materials that could be converted by North Korea for military purposes. The company manufactures parachute materials.

In the memo, the National Intelligence Service also requested that the ministries confirm whether the products fall into the category of strategic goods, since the North Korean authorities showed a high interest in the products.

One month later, the Commerce Ministry replied in a written statement to the Unification Ministry that among the products manufactured by the company, parachute thread and cloth were indeed prohibited products, and that they carried a high military value. The Commerce Ministry added that although parachute and paraglider materials differ from each other, the direction-control technology used for paragliders can be also used to manufacture combat parachutes. The Wassenaar Arrangement prohibits the export of combat parachute-related products and technology.

Despite the warning, the Unification Ministry just sat on its hands until recently.

A senior ministry official said on the condition of anonymity, “When we get the goods, we will determine whether or not the company violated the law. In our opinion, no technology has been leaked to the North, and, thus, we see no problem.”

Rep. Lee commented, “If these things happen, the international community will not trust our deal with the North and our companies in the complex. We have to maintain a firm grip on strategic goods. Only then will world trust our companies.”



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