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North Korea: Missile Transfer to Pakistan Prompts U.S. Sanctions The United States is preparing to impose sanctions on North Korean and Pakistani companies over the alleged sale of North Korean Nodong ballistic missiles, the Washington Times reported today (see GSN, Feb. 5). The sanctions, set to be imposed under the Arms Control Export Act, will prohibit the Pakistan’s Khan Research Laboratories from doing business with the United States for two years. The firm is alleged to have purchased the North Korean Nodong missiles over a span ending in August and to have used U.S.-built C-130 aircraft to deliver them, U.S. officials said. “This is a very serious matter,” a senior Bush administration official said. “We are not talking about missile technology or components but full-fledged Nodong missiles that can deliver nuclear weapons — and they used aircraft we gave them to bring the missiles home,” the official added. The United States has also decided to sanction the North Korean state-owned company Changgwang Sinyong Corp. for its role in the alleged transfer, an official said. “That has no huge practical impact because there is no trade between the United States and North Korea, but it’s an important symbolic act that shows our focus on the North’s proliferation behavior and also tells the buyers how serious we are about this,” the official said (Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times, March 31). A spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy in Washington yesterday denied that any Pakistani entity purchased Nodong missiles, saying the sanctions are “misplaced and discriminatory.” “We beg to differ,” the spokesman said. “Whatever missile technology we have is indigenous,” he added. A U.S. official said there was debate within the White House over sanctioning Islamabad while it was assisting the United States in the war on terrorism. The Bush administration ultimately decided to only sanction the Pakistani company, and not the government. “Everybody agreed that, in terms of the penalties you impose, none of the penalties should have an impact on Operation Enduring Freedom,” a Bush administration official said, referring to the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan. “That was a no-brainer,” the official added (Peter Slevin, Washington Post, March 31).
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