UN Investigating Weapons Sales between North Korea and Syria

[Conley]

A U.N. panel of experts that monitors compliance with sanctions on North Korea is investigating reports of possible weapons-related deals between Pyongyang and Syria and Myanmar, the panel said in a confidential report seen by Reuters on Thursday.

"The DPRK (North Korea) continues actively to defy the measures in the (U.N. sanctions) resolutions," the panel said in the report, which it submitted to the U.N. Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee earlier this week.

"Member states did not report to the committee any violations involving transfer of nuclear, other (weapons of mass-destruction)-related or ballistic missile items," it said. "But they did report several other violations including illicit sales of arms and related materiel and luxury goods."

U.N. panel of experts' sanctions reports are highly sensitive. China, which is named in the report as a transit hub for illicit North Korean arms-related breaches, has prevented the 15-nation Security Council from publishing past reports and may do so with the latest one, U.N. envoys have told Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/18/us-korea-north-sanctions-idUSBRE84G1KI20120518

What weapons does North Korea have that are worth buying anyway? I would bet Syria could get better stuff through Russia, China (sounds like they're acting as a hub anyway) or others, funneling it through another country if necessary.

[MMC]

"In April 2012, France (http://thepoliticalforums.com/places/france) reported to the committee that it had inspected and seized in November 2010 an illicit shipment of arms-related materiel originating from the DPRK and destined for Syria," the report said.

The shipment, which was on board the ship M/V San Francisco Bridge, was said to be containing "copper bars and plates."
"However, France's inspection of the cargo revealed that it contained brass discs and copper rods used to manufacture artillery munitions (pellets and rods for crimping cartridges and driving bands) and aluminum alloy tubes usable for making rockets," the panel said.
Another case cited in the report involved a 2007 shipment of propellant usable for SCUD missiles and other items that could be used for ballistic missiles. The panel had referred to it in last year's report but added details about a Syria connection and confirmed that it had been transported via China.
"This shipment originated in the DPRK, was trans-shipped in Dalian (China), and Port Kelang (Malaysia), and transited through other ports," the report said. "It was en route to Latakia, Syria."

Although both shipments mentioned in the report were made before the Syrian government launched its assault on opposition demonstrators in March 2011, diplomats said they were worrying because it showed the kinds of items Damascus had been trying to add to its arsenal - and the aid it received from North Korea and China.

The panel said it could not prove North Korea continued to maintain ballistic missile cooperation with Iran (http://thepoliticalforums.com/places/iran), Syria and other countries, "but notes that it would be consistent with reports of the DPRK's long history of missile cooperation with these countries and with the panel's observations.".....snip~

I think it was the propellant for scuds and ballistic missiles and the plus the means for making artillery munitions and rockets. Note Assad recieved all this prior to The Sunni Arabs trying to take over his country. Don't see how China could hide it if was log thru all those ports.

I think you right that Syria would rely more on Russian and Chinese Tech tho.

[Conley]

Interesting, thanks MMC. They must really be having a hard time getting items in. I would think they could get their hands on brass discs and copper rods, guess the sanctions are working.

[MMC]

I think we did have something up on what Assad had recieved from the Russians already.

[waltky]

No. Korean arms shipment to Syria seized...

Suspected North Korea missile parts seized en route to Syria in May
14 Nov.`12 - A shipment of graphite cylinders usable in a missile program and suspected to have come from North Korea was found in May aboard a Chinese ship en route to Syria in what appears to have been a violation of U.N. sanctions, diplomats said on Tuesday.


South Korean officials seized the shipment of 445 graphite cylinders, which had been declared as lead piping, from a Chinese vessel called the Xin Yan Tai, U.N. Security Council diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity. South Korean authorities stopped the ship at the South Korean port of Busan, the envoys said, adding that the cylinders were intended for a Syrian company called Electric Parts. South Korean officials briefed the Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee about the seizure on October 24, the envoys said, and China had offered to help investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident. "It appears the cylinders were intended for Syria's missile program," a diplomat said. "China assured us they will investigate what looks like a violation of U.N. sanctions."

Another diplomat said: "It's possible that the crew of the Chinese ship had no idea what this shipment really was. It's good that China's expressed a willingness to investigate." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that China strictly followed U.N. resolutions and its own non-proliferation export controls. "China will handle behavior that violates relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and China's laws and regulations according to the law," he told reporters in Beijing. Diplomats said the graphite cylinders appeared to be consistent with material usable in a ballistic missile program and that South Korea would be jointly investigating the case with China.

The shipment to Syria was arranged by a North Korean trading company, diplomats said. One diplomat said the Syrian company that was to have received the cylinders may be a subsidiary of the North Korean trading firm. North Korea is barred from importing or exporting nuclear and missile technology under U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on Pyongyang because of its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. There are U.S. and European Union sanctions on Syria, but no U.N. arms embargo against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has led a 20-month military campaign against an increasingly militarized opposition.

Russia and Iran have been Assad's main arms suppliers. Earlier this year, the Security Council's Panel of Experts on North Korea, a group of independent experts that monitors compliance with the U.N. sanctions regime, said it was investigating reports of possible weapons-related deals between Pyongyang and Syria as well as Myanmar. "The DPRK (North Korea) continues actively to defy the measures in the (U.N. sanctions) resolutions," the panel said in May.

http://news.yahoo.com/suspected-north-korea-missile-parts-seized-en-route-042141488.html