A look at North Korea's global weapons business

Posted on Wednesday, 07.17.13

A look at North Korea's global weapons business
BY FOSTER KLUG
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEOUL, South Korea -- The countries known to have done weapons business
with North Korea make a long list, but the revelation that Cuba sent it
missile parts and weapons on a ship stopped by Panama has puzzled some
analysts.

North Korea and Cuba share similar anti-U.S. ideologies, and Havana
hosted a senior North Korean military delegation less than a month ago,
but the countries aren't seen as major weapons business partners. Cuba
said Panama seized obsolete weaponry that Havana had sent to be repaired.

North Korea has a long history of aggressively buying, marketing and
selling arms, especially in developing countries in the Middle East,
Africa and Southeast Asia.

Much of that business was in sales of short- and medium-range missiles,
but the market for full missile systems was thought to have dried up in
recent years.

That's partly because of international pressure and sanctions banning
weapons exports that followed North Korea's three nuclear tests since
2006 and a string of long-range rocket launches. Sales may have also
suffered because of the poor-quality, Soviet-type weaponry that
Pyongyang has traditionally produced.

Since the 1990s, analysts say, Pyongyang has been favoring exports of
conventional weapons and the equipment and components that are used in
missile production assembly lines. North Korea cannot export heavy arms
or material related to nuclear weapons or missiles under U.N. Security
Council sanctions.

Here is a look at some high-profile North Korean arms seizures and
inspections that provide an idea of who's in the market for Pyongyang's
goods. It is based on U.N. reports and a 2011 study by arms control
expert Joshua Pollack, who has compiled public reports on seizures and
inspection:

MIDDLE EAST

Late last year, U.N. diplomats reported that 445 North Korean-made
graphite cylinders, capable of being used to produce ballistic missiles,
were seized in May from a Chinese freighter ship at the South Korean
port of Busan on their way to Syria.

In December 2009, Thailand intercepted a charter jet from Pyongyang
carrying 35 tons of conventional weapons, including surface-to-air
missiles. Thai authorities reported that they were headed for Iran, a
major North Korean missile and weapons client.

In October 2007, propellant blocks that could be used to power Scud
missiles were seized from a ship heading to Syria, according to a report
by a 2012 U.N. expert panel.

AFRICA

Pyongyang has tried also to sell shorter-range missiles and
Soviet-vintage rockets and guns to customers in Africa. There have been
reports in recent years of seizures of shipments heading to Eritrea,
Republic of Congo and Burundi.

In November 2009, tank parts and equipment bound for the Republic of
Congo were reportedly found in South Africa.

In three separate incidents in 1999 and 2000, missile parts and
components were found to be on their way to Libya.

In 1996, artillery rockets and Scud missile components were reportedly
found in Switzerland and bound for Egypt.

MYANMAR

Washington says one of the contracts between Myanmar's former ruling
junta and North Korea was for Pyongyang to help Myanmar build
medium-range, liquid-fueled ballistic missiles.

In June 2009, Japan's Daily Yomiuri newspaper reported three arrests
over an alleged attempt, on instructions from North Korea, to illegally
export to Myanmar a magnetic measuring device believed necessary for
long-range ballistic missiles.

CUBA

On Tuesday, Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli said the 14,000-ton
Chong Chon Gang, which had left Cuba for North Korea, was carrying
missiles and other arms hidden beneath a cargo of sugar. He revealed a
picture of a green tube that an expert said appears to be a horizontal
antenna for radar used to guide missiles fired by an air-defense system.

Cuba's Foreign Ministry said 240 metric tons of "obsolete defensive
weapons" had been shipped out to be repaired and returned to the island.
It said the cargo included two Volga and Pechora anti-aircraft missile
systems, nine missiles "in parts and spares," two Mig-21Bis and 15
engines for those airplanes.

Follow Foster Klug on Twitter at twitter.com/apklug.

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