According to the New York Times:
Suppliers of Precision Machinery
North Korea needs supplies and machinery to make its missiles. The cables indicate that precision metal machinery like hydraulic presses has been supplied by Taiwanese companies; tons of specialized steel has been routed from China; unspecified goods came from Japan; and computerized lathes were sold by a Swiss company.Suppliers of Parts
North Korea cannot provide all the components its missile customers need. The cables outline how North Korea sought to sell a mobile missile launcher to Yemen. It arranged for a MAZ-543 engine and a ZIL-131 truck from a Russian company, which was to be shipped from Odessa, Ukraine, to Al Hudaydah, Yemen.Markets for the Missiles
North Korea’s customers for missiles and other weaponry include countries mainly in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. They have included Iran, Egypt, Uganda, Yemen and Sri Lanka. The cables also outline the tracking of a North Korean ship suspected of carrying weapons, possibly for Angola or the Democratic Republic of Congo.The Money Flow
The cables outline how the United States suspects money has flowed through bank accounts in well-established financial institutions so North Korea can buy supplies, and customers can pay for missiles. These have included bank accounts in Germany, Hong Kong and Japan.
Regarding the hydraulic presses, these could be domestically sourced. The DPRK media regularly features innovations in press machines.
The government of Myanmar is also a purchaser of conventional weaponry. Here is a post on one of their shopping trips in the DPRK.
Read the full story here:
Untangling a North Korean Missile Business
New York Times
12/6/2010
And “computerized lathes” are the CNC technology so beloved of North Korean propaganda. Perhaps the needs of military industries are the DPRK’s real motivation for developing domestic CNC equipment.