North Korea, Pakistani Lab Sanctioned for Proliferation
On March 24, the United States imposed sanctions on a North Korean
company and a Pakistani laboratory for a related missile technology
transfer.
The Changgwang Sinyong Corporation of North Korea was sanctioned
for transferring Category 1 items regulated under the Missile Technology
Control Regime (MTCR) to Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in Pakistan,
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said March 31. The laboratory
was sanctioned for receiving the items. Category 1 items include
complete missile systems or unmanned air vehicle systems that exceed
MTCR range limits.
Although some early media reports suggested that the trade involved
nuclear technology, the State Department quickly dismissed such
claims. Philip Reeker, deputy State Department spokesman, said April
1 that, after a careful review, the administration had determined
that sanctions could be imposed only for a “missile-related
transfer” and not the transfer of nuclear technology from Pakistan
to North Korea.
The company and laboratory are now under two-year sanctions, which
prohibit the U.S. government or U.S. companies from exporting goods
to or importing items from the sanctioned entities.
The laboratory was sanctioned under Executive Order 12938, and the
Changgwang Sinyong Corporation under the Arms Export Control Act
and the Export Administration Act. The Arms Export Control Act closely
follows regulations established in the MTCR, while the Export Administration
Act goes slightly beyond the MTCR in the number and types of dual-use
items it regulates. President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order
12938 in 1994 as an additional way to levy sanctions for weapons
of mass destruction proliferation.
Khan Research Laboratories—named for A. Q. Khan, who helped
found Pakistan’s nuclear development program—is Pakistan’s
primary nuclear weapons laboratory. It has been sanctioned in the
past for similar missile-related transfers from the same North Korean
company, Reeker said in his April 1 statement. The laboratory has
been listed as an entity of proliferation concern in the Export
Administration Regulations since 1998.
The North Korean corporation has been sanctioned repeatedly by
the United States, most recently in August 2002. (See
ACT, September 2002.)
The Bush administration extended the sanctions to the North Korean
government, which is currently locked in a nuclear crisis with the
United States. The sanctions on the Khan Laboratory, however, do
not apply to the Pakistani government. The laboratory is considered
separate from the government of President General Pervez Musharraf,
who is currently a key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.
The Pakistani government has repeatedly stated that their missile
program is indigenous, but most weapons experts say that Pakistani
missiles are largely based on Chinese and North Korean technology.
For example, Pakistan’s long-range Ghauri missile appears to
be based on North Korea’s Nodong missile, and the Shaheen I
resembles China’s M-9.
A spokesman for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called
the sanctions against the laboratory “unjustified” in
a March 29 press release. In a press briefing two days later, a
spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Office said the sanctions
would not have an effect on the laboratory because “it has
no commercial links with any firms in the United States.”
The sanctions on the North Korean company are also viewed as largely
symbolic because it is U.S. policy—under the Arms Control Export
Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations—to deny
imports or exports of defense-related material to North Korea, regardless
of these new restrictions.
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