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Two charged in Singapore with supplying luxury goods to N. Korea
SINGAPORE, Oct 18, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Two men were charged in Singapore
Thursday with supplying luxury goods, including jewellery and watches, to
North Korea in violation of UN sanctions.
They were the latest examples of illicit trade through the global trading
hub, which has been cracking down on the flow of banned goods to the nuclear-
armed state.
A Singaporean man is accused of having helped companies provide luxury
items to North Korea on 43 occasions between 2010 and 2016, police said.
Three companies linked to the man, named in local reports as 58-year-old
Chong Hock Yen, have also been charged.
The second man, a North Korean named in reports as Li Hyon, is charged with
abetting two companies to supply similar prohibited items, between 2014 and
2017, police said.
“Singapore takes its obligations under the United Nations Security Council
Resolutions seriously and implements them fully and faithfully,” said a
police statement.
“We will not hesitate to take action against any individual or entity that
breaches our laws and regulations.”
Pyongyang has been hit with a series of United Nations sanctions aimed at
forcing the hermit state to abandon its weapons programme.
But there have been several cases in recent years of companies and
individuals in the city allegedly supplying banned goods.
A Singapore company director was charged in July with providing a wide
range of luxury goods, ranging from wines and perfumes to jewellery, to North
Korea.
In 2016, a shipping firm in the city was fined for its role in an attempt
to smuggle Soviet-era weapons and fighter jets from Cuba to the North. The
company was initially found guilty of two charges, but it was cleared of one
count on appeal and had its fine reduced, local media reported.
Singapore suspended trade ties with the North last year as part of efforts
to implement UN sanctions.
The city-state nevertheless maintains diplomatic relations with Pyongyang
and in June hosted a historic summit between US President Donald Trump and
the North’s leader Kim Jong Un.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1450 hrs