Taiwanese authorities are investigating a Taiwanese firm for exporting precision equipment that could be used to produce nuclear-related materials to North Korea, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Tuesday. The precision machine tools, parts of whose components were made in Japan, were supplied to North Korea through Taiwan, which as a non-member of the UN is under no obligation to respect UN sanctions on the Stalinist country.

Yicheng Co. is suspected to have illegally exported precision machine tools that could be used to enrich uranium, extract plutonium and produce biochemical weapons to a North Korean enterprise. According to the Japanese daily, Taiwanese authorities cracked down in March on another company for illegally exporting precision machine tools that could be used to make bullets to North Korea. In August, they discovered that yet another firm had exported Japanese-made computers that could be diverted to make missile components to a state-run enterprise in North Korea.

(englishnews@chosun.com )