North Korea

(asked on 20th October 2014) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the findings of the United Nations Panel of Experts that many of the component parts of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) Unha-3 rocket were manufactured in the UK; and what steps are being taken to tighten existing UN sanctions on the DPRK's weapons programmes.


Answered by
Tobias Ellwood Portrait
Tobias Ellwood
This question was answered on 27th October 2014

HMG welcomes the UN DPRK Panel of Experts' 2014 Final Report. As highlighted in the report, we are cooperating fully with the Panel's investigation, whose preliminary conclusions were that all UK-origin parts used in the Unha-3 rocket were uncontrolled (i.e. off-the-shelf) items. These items do not contravene UN sanctions, MTCR control listings or UK trade restrictions and were not sold directly to the DPRK or its entities.

This highlights the lengths the DPRK takes to avoid direct purchases in favour of acquisitions through intermediaries based in third countries. HMG remains fully committed to upholding the UN-imposed sanctions on the DPRK and monitors UK activity closely to control the DPRK’s access to proliferation-sensitive material and collaborates with partners to minimise the risk of goods being diverted.

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