According to the Daily NK:
Despite the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1874 in June, 2009, North Korea’s weapons exports last year earned the country approximately the same amount as they have since Resolution 1718 was passed in 2006.
Song Young Sun, a lawmaker sitting on the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly, told reporters on Wednesday, “South Korea’s intelligence organizations have obtained a figure of around $50 million, and they assume that in practice the North has exported much more than that.”
Intelligence authorities apparently believe that the reason is that North Korea has exported parts and supported foreign munitions factories in other ways, rather than exporting finished weapons.
In September of last year, a Georgian cargo plane containing 35 tons of weapons parts including those for the Taepo-dong 2 was intercepted in Bangkok. Two months later, a ship heading for Congo was also revealed by South Africa to contain parts of the T-54 and T-55, North Korean tanks based on Soviet designs.
Meanwhile, the most successful period for the sanctions regime was immediately after UN Resolution 1718 was imposed on North Korea in 2006, when North Korean exports are estimated to have been reduced to $30 million, just 1/7th of the previous year’s total.
Read the full story here:
North Korea’s Arms Exports Stay Steady
Daily NK
Kim Min Su
8/5/2010
