Iran-Japan:  Police Suspect Japanese Firm of Exporting Missile Technology to Iran

Japanese police searched a Tokyo machine manufacturer Thursday to investigate suspicions the firm had illegally exported equipment to Iran that can be used to increase the range of missiles.

The Jet Mill machine — which grinds ammonium perchlorate into a fine powder that can be used in missile fuel — requires government approval before it is exported.  Seishin Enterprise Company exported the machine to Iran in May 1999 and November 2000, according to Tokyo police officials.

The company made a false customs declaration when it exported the machine, according to Japanese customs officials.

The police also searched homes of company officials and said that Iran most likely asked the company to keep the transaction quiet.

The milling machine is technology restricted by the Missile Technology Control Regime which limits Japan’s technology exports, according to Asahi Shimbun (Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 15).

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North Korea:  Scuds Reach Yemen

Yemen Saturday received a shipment of 15 Scud ballistic missiles and fuel from North Korea, after the ship had been seized and later released by the United States and Spain, officials said (see GSN, Dec. 13).  The missiles will be taken to a base near the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, a Yemeni official said (The Hindu, Dec. 15).

Little Could Have Been Done

There was little the United States could have done to prevent the shipment from reaching Yemen, according to the New York Times.  While the United States and Spain were entitled to stop and seize the ship, which was flying no flag, the missile sale to Yemen was legal under international law, the Times reported.

The United States could have attempted to block Yemen from receiving the Scuds through bureaucratic measures, international lawyers said.  For example, since the North Korean ship was flying no flag, the United States could have held the ship until its last legal owner came forward to claim it.  Such tactics were not attempted, however, for fear of alienating Yemeni support for the war on terrorism, according to the Times.

Even though the missiles were ultimately sent on to Yemen, the seizure of the ship was beneficial in that it demonstrated that the United States can detect and stop clandestine arms transfers, White House officials said (Thom Shanker, New York Times, Dec. 15).

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North Korea:  Pyongyang Demands Apology for Ship Seizure

North Korea demanded an apology today from the United States for its role in seizing a North Korean ship this week carrying 15 Scud ballistic missiles to Yemen (see GSN, Dec. 12).

“The United states should apologize for its high-handed piracy committed against the D.P.R.K.’s trading ship and duly compensate for all the mental and material damage done to the ship and its crew,” the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement reported by the official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea also criticized Spain for its role in the joint operation to search and seize the ship, which was ultimately released.

“It is something very regretful and disappointing that Spain which has normal state relations with the D.P.R.K. blindly acted as a servant of the U.S. pirate, unbecoming its status,” the North Korean Foreign Ministry statement said (Financial Times, Dec. 13).

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North Korea:  Yemen Expects Fast Return of Scud Shipment

Yemen has announced it is expecting a North Korean ship loaded with 15 Scud ballistic missiles, which U.S. and Spanish troops had seized in a joint operation Monday, to arrive at a Yemeni port within 48 hours, Reuters reported today (see GSN, Dec. 11).

“We expect the ship to arrive anytime, within the next 48 hours.  Perhaps today or tomorrow,” a senior Yemeni official said today.

Yemen also has no plans for further ballistic missile purchases from North Korea, the official said.  “We have signed a contract with North Korea to buy this shipment in 1999 and we have no intention to purchase any other shipment,” the official added.

The United States decided to release the vessel because officials determined the missile shipment did not violate international law and because Yemen assured U.S. officials it would not “transfer these missile to anyone,” White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said yesterday (Reuters, Dec. 12).

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz called Spanish Defense Minister Federico Trillo yesterday to commend Spain on the “professionalism” of its troops during the seizure and to apologize for the way the incident played out, Agencia EFE reported.

Spanish troops could have been killed during the operation, according to the Defense Ministry, and the U.S. decision to turn over the ship’s cargo to Yemen has surprised Spanish officials (EFE/El Mundo, Dec. 12, GSN translation).  According to Gonzalo Rodriguez, the commander of the ship that intercepted the North Korean vessel, its cargo and its port of destination were “technically” illegal because it officially declared it was only carrying 2,000 tons of cement (EFE, Dec. 12, GSN translation).

While the United States had the authority to stop and search the ship, it did not have the authority to seize the vessel, Fleischer said, explaining the release.

“There is no clear authority to seize the shipment,” he said.  “The merchant vessel is being released,” he added (Ahmed Al-Haj, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Dec. 11).

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell commented further yesterday on the U.S. rationale for releasing the ship after dramatically stopping and capturing it.

“After a flurry of phone calls,” Powell said, Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Salih assured the United States that the shipment had been contracted “some years ago,” that it was the last contracted shipment, that the missiles were for only defensive purposes, and that “under no circumstances would they be going anywhere else.”

“On that basis,” Powell added, “and also in acknowledgement of the fact that it was on international water and it was a sale that was out in the open and consistent with international law … we directed the ship to continue to its destination” (U.S. State Department release, Dec. 11).

Proliferation Concerns

At a press briefing yesterday, State spokesman Richard Boucher denied that the decision made last month by the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization to suspend shipments of heavy fuel oil to North Korea would prompt Pyongyang to increase missile exports (see GSN, Nov 15).  KEDO, which oversees energy assistance in exchange for a freeze on any North Korean nuclear programs, suspended the shipments over suspicions that Pyongyang has recently engaged in efforts to build nuclear weapons (see related GSN story, today).

“I don’t see any cause and effect,” Boucher said.  “I think that would be the ultimate in sophistry to claim ... that we pushed them into selling missiles by not giving them fuel because they were spending their money on nuclear programs.  It just doesn’t make sense to me,” he added (U.S. State Department release II, Dec. 11).

The U.S. inability to prevent the North Korean Scud transfer to Yemen demonstrates a need to improve international regimes against missile proliferation, Fleischer said yesterday.  Neither North Korea nor Yemen subscribes to either of the two main international missile nonproliferation agreements — the Missile Technology Control Regime and the Hague Code of Conduct (see GSN, Nov. 26).

“One thing that this does underscore is the need to take a look (at) — and we will do so with friends and others around the world — whether or not the international regimes that deal with missile proliferation need a second look,” Fleischer said (Hendren/Efron, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 12).

Japanese Response

Japan said today that it might halt economic aid to Yemen as a form of protest over the North Korean Scud shipment.  Japanese aid to Yemen totaled $21 million in March 2001, according to Agence France-Presse.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry is preparing to issue to Yemen “what may be something close to a protest” over the shipment, said Yasuo Fukuda, the top spokesman for the Japanese government.  “I don’t know what it contains or how it will be expressed,” but Japan’s aid to Yemen “may be taken into account,” Fukuda added (Agence France-Presse, Dec. 12).

For further information, see:

International Code of Conduct (Dutch Foreign Ministry)

Missile Technology Control Regime (U.S. State Department)

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Bulgaria:  Romanian Company Agrees to Destroy Missile Fuel

A Romanian nonproliferation agency announced Tuesday that the SC Nitramonia SA Fagaras company has agreed to destroy 500 metric tons of Bulgarian nitric acid missile fuel (see GSN, Oct. 31).  The transit of the fuel into Romania will be conducted according to regulations on the import and export of strategic products, the National Agency for Controlling the Strategic Transport and for Banning Nuclear Weapons said (Rompres, Dec. 10 in FBIS-EEU, Dec. 10).

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