WSJ, “Russia Attempted to Stop North Korea’s Missile Export”

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on January 27 that the Russian government tried to block North Korea’ missile exports on two separate occasions.

WSJ mentioned Russia’s effort to stop the spread of nuclear weapons in its article titled “Elimination of the Obstacle in Anti-proliferation Movement,” and said that the American-led Proliferation Security Initiative program is effective to some degree with the participation by 60 countries.

WSJ quoted an American official as saying that the new member of the PSI program, the Russian government, tried to interrupt the passage of North Korea’s missile bound for Iran after learning that the missiles would be transported through Russia. However, the missile parts were not found at that time.

WSJ noted that the reason for not finding the missile parts was either because of the disclosed control plan from the Russian officials, or because of North Korea’s decision to take another route for transporting missiles.

Young-Sik Kim spear@donga.com