Japan police nab engineer linked to North Korea

Tokyo, Jan 29: Japanese police said today they had arrested an engineer and his wife suspected of violating the country's labour law, after media reported the man was linked to a group leaking missile technologies to North Korea.

Media reports said police were investigating whether a group of scientists for which the engineer served as an adviser had been involved in leaking missile and other advanced technologies.

A police spokesman declined to comment on the reports.

Police said they believed So Sok-hong, a 74-year-old North Korean engines expert living in Japan, and his 72-year-old wife Pak Chong-sun recruited several ethnic Korean workers for Japanese electrical machinery firms for more than two years from March 2004 without informing the labour office.

The group of scientists is affiliated with the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon.

The group was not available for comment.

An increasing number of firms in Japan have been investigated in recent years on suspicion of illegally exporting to North Korea ''dual-use instruments'', or civilian devics that can be used for military purposes.

After Pyongyang test-launched seven missiles on July 5 and conducted a nuclear test on October 9, Tokyo punished its neighbour with a package of sanctions.

Punitive steps included banning visits by a North Korean ferry long suspected of transporting parts for North Korea's missile programmes.

In November, Japan banned exports of luxury goods to the North in a move experts said was aimed at the ruling elite, whose lavish lifestyle stands in stark contrast to that of most citizens of their impoverished state.

Following Pyongyang's nuclear test last year, the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution that, among other measures, blocks trade with North Korea in luxury goods.

Japanese media reports have said Tokyo planned to tighten customs law to stem illegal trade with North Korea and boost effectiveness of the economic sanctions imposed on the communist state.

REUTERS

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