A district court in Singapore has found Chinpo Shipping, a company linked with North Korean arms smuggling, guilty of two criminal charges. The company was charged with transferring financial assets or resources that could have been used to contribute to North Korea’s weapon programmes, which are subject to UN sanctions.
The UN has named Chinpo Shipping as aiding a shipment of Cuban fighter jets and missile parts that were bound for North Korea when they were seized in Panama in 2013. Chinpo Shipping, a firm the report said was “co-located” with the North Korean embassy in Singapore, acted as the agent for a Pyongyang-based company that operated the Chong Chon Gang ship, which was arrested in Panama with a cargo full of Soviet era arms.
The firm was also charged with carrying out a remittance business without a licence between 2009 and 2013.
Tan Hui Tin, a Singaporean citizen, was also charged in June. Tan is a shareholder and director of Chinpo Shipping.
A sentence will be announced in late January.
