As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with North Korean officials Saturday to discuss how to achieve the U.S. goal of denuclearization of the communist nation, the world was paying less attention to a related challenge: how to stop the North from continuing to sell nuclear capabilities and weapons to rogue regimes around the world.
North Korea, struggling under crippling international economic sanctions, uses arms deals as an important source of millions of dollars in cash.
Even if weapons and nuclear capabilities sold by the North are never used against the U.S. or our allies, they pose a danger to the world and can be used to kill and wound both foreign combatants and innocent civilians.
A perfect example of the harm caused by North Korea’s arms sales can be found on the other side of the world in Sudan, where North Korea sells to the rogue regime of Omar Bashir.
Sudan has long been a reliable customer for North Korean weapons. This relationship has been well-documented over the years, despite the fact that the 2006 U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718 prohibits the trade of weapons between North Korea and any U.N. member state.
According to the U.N. Panel of Experts’ February 2017 report on North Korea, in August 2013 Pyongyang supplied 100 precision-guided rocket control sections and 80 air attack satellite-guided missiles to Sudan, under two contracts worth over $6.4 million. The contracts were signed by the reputed president of North Korea’s primary arms dealer, KOMID.
Weapons sales are beneficial for both sides, particularly in kleptocracies such as Sudan and North Korea. According to the 2017 Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, both North Korea and Sudan ranked among the 10 most corrupt countries in the world.- READ MORE
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