By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The United States has formally sanctioned a North Korean entity for its role in the transfer of Scud ballistic missile components to Yemen late last year, a U.S. State Department official told Global Security Newswire today (see GSN, July 3).

The sanctions against Changgwang Sinyong Corp., effective beginning today, were announced in a notice published today in the Federal Register.  Under the Arms Export Control Act and the Export Administration Act of 1979, the United States has imposed sanctions against Changgwang Sinyong for a period of three years and eight months.  The sanctions prohibit the company from importing goods into, and entering into contracts with, the United States.

In addition, private U.S. companies are barred from selling to Changgwang Sinyong items listed on the U.S. Munitions List and those normally requiring an export license under the Export Administration Act.

In mid-December 2002, the United States and Spain seized a North Korean ship traveling to Yemen loaded with more than a dozen disassembled Scud ballistic missiles (see GSN, Dec. 11, 2002).  Yemen was later allowed to receive the missile shipment, however, because the Bush administration contended that there was no legal authority to hold it, according to Robert Einhorn, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ International Security Program, who noted that today’s announced sanctions were independent of the shipment’s seizure (see GSN, Dec. 16, 2002).  He credited Yemen’s appeals to the United States and its cooperation in the war on terrorism for the Bush administration’s decision to release the shipment. 

The incident, however, helped prompt the creation of the Proliferation Security Initiative — a Bush administration proposal to interdict suspect shipments of WMD-related cargo (see GSN, July 9). 

Today’s announced sanctions against Changgwang Sinyong are the latest in a long list of sanctions imposed against the company for alleged WMD and missile proliferation activities.  Earlier this month, the company was sanctioned for allegedly transferring items to Iran that could aid Tehran’s WMD and missile programs.  In March, the United States sanctioned the company for its alleged role in the sale of North Korean ballistic missiles to Pakistan.  The company was also sanctioned last year for a sale of Scud ballistic missile components to Yemen that occurred during the Clinton administration.

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