[USFK Forums] Firms raided over exports to North Korea [UPI]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Saturday, February 18, 2006

Firms raided over exports to North Korea

TOKYO, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Japanese police Friday raided two trading companies suspected of exporting to North Korea a machine that could be used to produce chemical weapons.

Police believe that the two companies, Seishin Shoji and Meisho Yoko, both based in Tokyo, exported a device called a "freeze drier" to North Korea from the port of Yokohama via Taiwan in September 2002 without obtaining permission from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.

Freeze driers are used to decompress and dry frozen food. The devices are also used to preserve materials that are vulnerable to changes in temperature, and can be used to produce chemical weapons.



(END)