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| North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects a catfish farm, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Dec. 12. / Yonhap |
By Kim Jae-kyoung
SINGAPORE -- North Korea is expected to find it more difficult to smuggle arms using non-North Korean facilitators, after a Singapore-based firm was convicted of enabling a shipment of arms for a blacklisted shipping firm based in the repressive state.
This is the first-ever case in which a Singapore-registered company has been punished for supporting North Korea's arms trade. Singapore is one of the biggest trading partners in South East Asia for North Korea.
On Monday, a district court in Singapore said that it found Chinpo Shipping Company guilty of supporting a shipment of arms-related materials bound for North Korea, which could have been used to contribute to the isolated state's nuclear program.
Trading arms with North Korea is restricted by the U.N. in response to its nuclear program.
The firm was charged with transferring $72,016 to Panama shipping agent C.B. Fenton in July 2013, on behalf of the North Korean entity Ocean Maritime Management (OMM) for the vessel Chong Chon Gang carrying weapons from Cuba to North Korea.
The weapons included two MiG-21 jet fighters, anti-tank rockets and surface-to-air missile systems, all of which were hidden in the cargo hold under 10,500 tons of sugar.
Chinpo was charged with performing remittances totaling more than $40 million between Apr. 2, 2009 and July 3, 2013.
The court is expected to hand down a final sentence on Jan. 29. Chinpo could be fined up to $710,000 for breaching U.N. sanctions and $71,000 for operating a remittance business without a license.
"The ruling is likely to flag the dangers of being implicated in the arms trade with North Korea," said a Singapore-based source closed to the matter, who asked to remain anonymous.
"This case will further strengthen North Korea's image as a rogue state, which will discourage more firms from engaging in business activities and shipments of goods with North Korea."
However, experts said the case will have a limited impact on illegal practices by North Korea because the nation can still find many loopholes enabling it to evade U.N. sanctions elsewhere.
"North Korea seeks to create and exploit many holes in the U.N. sanctions regime -- the Chinpo hole is only one of many," said Richard C. Bush, director of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies for the Brookings Institution, to The Korea Times.
"So although this case is a good development, and reflects well on the Singapore government, it would be much more significant if other countries were as aggressive as Singapore in plugging holes."
Steven Weber, a North Korean expert and professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley, holds a more conservative view.
"These kinds of illicit finance arrangements are a normal part of North Korea's ongoing efforts to evade sanctions. The North Koreans no doubt maintain a portfolio of these relationships around the world," he said.
"Closing down one of these illicit middlemen will be an inconvenience to the North Koreans but not much more than that I suspect. They have others to turn to. It's an ongoing cat-and-mouse game."
Kongdan Oh, a researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses, echoed this view. "NK will continue doing similar business because North Korea needs foreign currency and sustains relationships with countries that demand its goods and services," she said.
"They may slow down a bit, but the same business patterns will continue. Perhaps there will be less profit for North Korea because future facilitators will request more money for them since the risk is higher. NK may try to outwit restrictions by getting smarter or more cunning."
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