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North Korea: Pyongyang Trying to Smuggle Nuclear Gear Through Germany, Officials Say North Korea’s embassy in Germany is attempting to smuggle “sensitive goods” out of the country, according to a German report released Tuesday (see GSN, May 15). “One can assume that embassy personnel are still involved in the acquisition of sensitive goods,” the German interior ministry said in an annual report on domestic security. “Because the previous practice to organize the export of such goods via European third countries is hardly possible anymore due to extensive checks, it is being attempted to carry out such exports via China or Singapore. … Not infrequently, North Korean front companies in China are given as the recipient,” the reports says. Last month, Germany’s Der Spiegel reported that an attempt was made to ship 22 tons of aluminum tubes to an alleged North Korean front company in China for possible use in Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. The shipment was identified and stopped in Egypt, according to Agence France-Presse (see GSN, April 28; Agence France-Presse, May 13 in FBIS-EAS, May 13). South Korea Paying for Reactor Project Meanwhile, South Korea has so far spent $850 million to build light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea. Under the effort, run by the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, Japan has spent $323 million on the effort and the European Union has contributed more than $17 million (Yonhap, May 14 in FBIS-EAS, May 14).
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