Taipei-Pyongyang Ties b 7
photo: John Pavelka Docked on the Taedong River, the USS Pueblo is a captured US ship that now serves as a museum on North Korea’s propaganda-heavy official tour.
participated in the second DPRK-China Economic, Trade, Cultural and Tourism Expo in Dandong, Liaoling province at the invitation of Pyongyang authorities. To be sure, “The number of Taiwanese companies making inspection trips to North Korea is second only to the number of Chinese companies,” stated a source cited by Asahi Shimbun. Reports citing estimates extracted from customs data by the government-run trade promotion organization the Taiwan External Trade Development Council indicate that, in 2010, Taiwan and North Korea’s bilateral trade totaled US$21.27 million, which represented an increase of 2.3 percent from the previous year. Of total trade, Taiwanese exports reportedly accounted for US$13.41 million, whereas imports from the North were worth US$7.86 million, which represented an 11 percent increase from 2009. Clearly there is a level of legitimate trade between Taipei and Pyongyang, but one of the greatest concerns is the transfer of illicit materials. For example, sources point to Taipei-based Royal Team Corp.’s import-export arrangement with North Korea. According to journalist Bertil Lintner, Royal Team has exported questionable items of a dual-use na-
ture, including a refrigeration unit capable of handling temperatures of minus 70 degrees Celsius that could be applied to North Korea’s development of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). A US govern-
“Taiwan serves as a critical transfer point for WMD-sensitive transfers, in which Taiwanese trading companies have been known to participate.” ment source cited by Defense News indicated that, due to US pressure on the ROC government, the Royal Team manager now operates out of Beijing. “It is easier to ship from Beijing than Taiwan. He also makes shipments from North Korea to Burma. The US pressured him to stop shipping some items to North Korea, but did not try to shut Royal down,” the source said. According to a report by journalist Wendell Minnick, another company of interest is Taichungbased Ching Hwee International Trading, which has been accused of selling machine tools to North Korea for making munitions. Due to pressure from