Serious Media blackout - UN says Singapore company linked to North Korean Arms sales

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Singapore's government was "closely studying" a United Nations report that linked a local company to a North Korean firm involved in the sales of arms, the foreign ministry said today.

The UN report sent to the Security Council and released this week identified Glocom as a front company run by North Korean intelligence agents that sells battlefield radio equipment in violation of UN sanctions.

Glocom is operated by the Pyongyang branch of a Singapore-based company called Pan Systems, said the UN report compiled by its panel of experts on compliance with sanctions on North Korea. The panel cited an invoice and other information it obtained.

Pan Systems Singapore's managing director Louis Low, 79, said he knew about Pan Systems Pyongyang but did not set it up or operate it.

In written answers to UN questions about its links to North Korea, seen by Reuters, he said he did not know about Pan System Pyongyang's alleged involvement in the arms trade.

In an email response to questions from Reuters, a spokesperson for Singapore's ministry of foreign affairs did not say whether any authority was investigating Pan Systems: "I am unable to provide information on our current internal processes."

"The Singapore Government will not hesitate to prosecute individuals/entities that fail to comply with Singapore legislation giving effect to measures prescribed by the UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs)," the spokesperson said.

The government was "closely studying" the report and will take the necessary steps to ensure Singapore's compliance, said the spokesperson, who did not want to be named.

The UN panel in its report recommended sanctions against Pan System Pyongyang.

Intelligence agency

Low told Reuters last week he had not been approached by Singapore authorities about the report and that he copied the foreign ministry into his correspondence with the UN in December of last year.

"How come we are involved in so many things which we do not even know or heard of? Your assumptions are wrong. It is not true. Pan Systems Pyongyang is not a Branch of Pan Systems (S) Pte Ltd," Low wrote to the UN sanctions panel.

The UN report, citing undisclosed information it obtained, said Pan System Pyongyang and Glocom were controlled by members of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, the North Korean intelligence agency tasked with overseas operations and weapons procurement.

"This shows how the Bureau enables its key agents to generate revenues for its operations through such networks," the report said.

Pan Systems Pyongyang had a network of bank accounts, front companies and agents, mostly located in China and Malaysia, to procure components and sell completed systems, the report said.

Pan Systems Pyongyang used Malaysia as a base for its key representative abroad and for the companies that have acted on its behalf, the report said.

Low told the UN and Reuters that he did not know about the existence of a Pan Systems branch in Malaysia.

A joint venture he had in Malaysia went bankrupt 25 years ago and he hasn't had an office there since then, Low told Reuters.


Read more: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/375170#ixzz4apXEbuQN


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