How China Helps North Korea Proliferate

Who still thinks the Chinese want to help us make North Korea play nicely?

But tighter controls by the international community of weapons of mass destruction and restraints on the North’s arms industry meant Pyongyang had to look for more devious ways.

For instance, the North took a roundabout land route via China and Russia, which is harder to trace, or used transport planes at night. It also exported weapons by building assembly factories in importing countries. To circumvent an entry ban on its ships in ports, North Korean chartered ships under the names of foreigners, falsified the country of origin, or did business through a third country. That is mostly how it was able to export to Iran, Syria, Burma and Laos.  [Chosun Ilbo]