Chinese, N Korean Companies Had Joint Venture Despite US, UN Sanctions

Companies from China and North Korea 

have created a business to bypass sanctions 

10:18 08.05.2017

Chinese state-owned Limac Corporation and North Korea’s Ryonbong General Corporation set up a joint venture in 2008 which maintained an office in China until February 2017 despite the sanctions introduced against the latter by the US and the UN, media reported citing Chinese corporate and government records.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The sanctions were introduced over its alleged China's involvement in Pyongyang's nuclear program.

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The Wall Street Journal reported that the two entities created a joint company to mine tantalum, niobium and zirconium, minerals which could be used in the manufacturing of nuclear reactors and missiles. The UN introduced sanctions against Ryonbong in 2009, while the company was blacklisted by Washington four year earlier.

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It remains unclear how much the joint venture achieved as the media failed to reach Ryonbong for comment while Limac said that the venture “never launched regular business activities.”

Since the beginning of 2016, North Korea has carried out a number of missile launches and nuclear tests, prompting worldwide criticism and triggering tensions on the Korean peninsula.

On May 4, the US House of Representatives introduced new sanctions against North Korea. The legislation cuts off North Korea's access to ports around the world, sanctions any financial institutions that still do business with North Korea, prohibits goods produced by North Korean forced labor and sanctions foreign employers who use forced labor from the North in other countries.