By Seo Jee-yeon
Staff Reporter

The government has increased monitoring to prevent raw materials and components for weapons from flowing into North Korea.

The measures have been taken as part of South Korean exports of sodium cyanide, a toxic chemical used to make a chemical weapon like sarine nerve gas, to China were reshipped to North Korea last year.

An official from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) confirmed Friday that a local company exported a total of 107 tons of sodium cyanide to a Chinese company in Dandong between June and September in 2003 without the government’s permission. The Chinese company then shipped those toxic chemicals to North Korea.

MOCIE official Seo Young-joo said the government uncovered the fact last September and took the local trading company, which violated the nation’s trade law, to court in October.

The head of the company was sentenced to one and a half years in prison and a two-year probation.

Under the current trade law, sodium cyanide exports are categorized as strategic material and require permission before being imported and exported in compliance with International Multilateral Export Control.

Seo also confirmed the government is investigating a similar case regarding a Malaysian company, which exported 40 tons of sodium cyanide to the North last August, including about 15 tons of the chemical imports originally from a South Korean trading firm.

However, Seo denied the allegation again that part of the 332.8 tons of the chemical, which were exported to Thailand last August, were shipped to the North.

Seo reconfirmed that among those imports to Thailand last August, 142 tons of them were collected on their way to North Korea and the remaining tons were used for Thai demands.

``Although the government has made efforts to strengthen control of strategic material export, it is difficult to monitor the movement of exports via a third country,’’ he said.

``We are developing a comprehensive measure against the loopholes in exporting strategic materials. We will strengthen controls of strategic material exports to countries that attempt to re-export Korean imports to a third country outside of `International Multilateral Export Control’ like North Korea.’’

The government will build an information system for exports and imports of strategic material, while providing a trade guideline for those materials online.

Meanwhile, according to the ministry, Korea exported a total of 146,046 tons of sodium cyanide to 10 countries, including China Thailand, Russia and Indonesia, up until August of this year since 2002. In that period, exports to China were the highest, reaching 42,399 tons.

jyseo@koreatimes.co.kr