Tokyo, April 19: Japanese high-tech items were found among missile-manufacturing equipment confiscated on a North Korean freighter a decade ago, a report said.
The North Korean cargo, detained at an Indian port in June 1999, contained a three-dimensional measuring device, special steel and other Japanese high-tech products, Kyodo News reported yesterday citing a former senior Indian official.
Tokyo has taken a stern policy against North Korea, developing a missile shield with the United States since the Pyongyang regime fired a missile over Japan's main island, Honshu, in 1998.
It bans export of any products to the secretive communist regime that could be used for military purposes.
The official confirmation of the items found on the freighter Kuwolsan "is the first concrete example of how Japanese equipment ended up being used in North Korea's proliferation of missile technology," Kyodo said.
Kuwolsan, described in some media reports as North Korea's "hidden missile factory," was detained during a stop at India's western Kandla, the news agency reported from New Delhi.
Former Indian official, K Santhanam, found the Japanese products when he directed a search on Kuwolsan on behalf of an Indian Defence Ministry entity involved in missile development, Kyodo said.
Bureau Report