ID :
60423
Wed, 05/13/2009 - 16:14
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/60423
The shortlink copeid
Audit agency questions lax monitoring of North Korea trade
SEOUL, May 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's audit agency expressed concern Wednesday
that materials used to develop weapons of mass destruction may enter North Korea
due to Seoul's lax monitoring and advised the Unification Ministry to tighten
rules.
The ministry, in charge of overseeing personnel and equipment exchanges with
North Korea, should consider the "special nature of inter-Korean relations" and
give censoring priority to strategic materials over general trade items, the
Board of Audit and Inspection said in a report.
"The process of monitoring items exported to North Korea has no order of
priority, raising concern that there could be a chance of strategic materials
going to North Korea," the audit agency said after an investigation requested by
the National Assembly.
Strategic materials refer to equipment or technology used to make nuclear or
biological weapons or missiles that are prohibited from being carried into the
North. Such materials or items that may fall into that category are sometimes
overlooked as the ministry's checklist, generally used by the tax agency and
other government agencies, is too broad, it said.
The ministry failed to spot and investigate packages of black powder, an
explosive mixture of sulfur, that were transported into North Korea by a local
firm last year, the agency said, though it could not say whether black powder is
a strategic material.
The audit agency also found that 270 used computers were exported to North Korea
in a possible violation of the law. The computers were initially destined for
China, but their owner changed the destination to North Korea without informing
the government, it said.
Other computers that were subject to return to the South were not brought back in
time, it noted. South Korean law allows citizens to bring computers to North
Korea on condition that they bring them back within a year.
The ministry failed to keep track of more than 2,000 computers taken to a joint
industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong over the past year by
South Korean workers, it said.
The Unification Ministry said in a statement that some of the items noted by the
customs agency were not strategic materials, but added it will "prepare a manual
to effectively control" such items.
Inter-Korean trade volume reached US$1.82 billion last year, the audit agency
said. More than 186,000 South Koreans, not counting over 303,000 who toured North
Korean resorts, visited North Korea for business and aid projects during the
period, up 18 percent from the previous year, it said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
that materials used to develop weapons of mass destruction may enter North Korea
due to Seoul's lax monitoring and advised the Unification Ministry to tighten
rules.
The ministry, in charge of overseeing personnel and equipment exchanges with
North Korea, should consider the "special nature of inter-Korean relations" and
give censoring priority to strategic materials over general trade items, the
Board of Audit and Inspection said in a report.
"The process of monitoring items exported to North Korea has no order of
priority, raising concern that there could be a chance of strategic materials
going to North Korea," the audit agency said after an investigation requested by
the National Assembly.
Strategic materials refer to equipment or technology used to make nuclear or
biological weapons or missiles that are prohibited from being carried into the
North. Such materials or items that may fall into that category are sometimes
overlooked as the ministry's checklist, generally used by the tax agency and
other government agencies, is too broad, it said.
The ministry failed to spot and investigate packages of black powder, an
explosive mixture of sulfur, that were transported into North Korea by a local
firm last year, the agency said, though it could not say whether black powder is
a strategic material.
The audit agency also found that 270 used computers were exported to North Korea
in a possible violation of the law. The computers were initially destined for
China, but their owner changed the destination to North Korea without informing
the government, it said.
Other computers that were subject to return to the South were not brought back in
time, it noted. South Korean law allows citizens to bring computers to North
Korea on condition that they bring them back within a year.
The ministry failed to keep track of more than 2,000 computers taken to a joint
industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong over the past year by
South Korean workers, it said.
The Unification Ministry said in a statement that some of the items noted by the
customs agency were not strategic materials, but added it will "prepare a manual
to effectively control" such items.
Inter-Korean trade volume reached US$1.82 billion last year, the audit agency
said. More than 186,000 South Koreans, not counting over 303,000 who toured North
Korean resorts, visited North Korea for business and aid projects during the
period, up 18 percent from the previous year, it said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
