NZ firm guilty in trade to N Korea
New Zealand aircraft manufacturer Pacific Aerospace has pleaded guilty to unlawfully exporting aircraft parts to North Korea.
The Hamilton firm broke both New Zealand law and United Nations sanctions when it indirectly sent aircraft parts to the hermit state in February 2016.
Tensions continue to rise on the Korea peninsula with United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un locked in a war of words over North Korea’s increasing nuclear capability.
The US is trying to force North Korea, through sanctions, to give up its nuclear ambitions, while Kim has accused the US of declaring war and has threatened to detonate a nuclear device over the Pacific as a demonstration of his country’s ability.
In the Manukau District Court on Tuesday, Pacific Aerospace defence lawyer Emily Rushbrooke confirmed guilty pleas to three charges for the indirect export of aircraft parts to North Korea.
The company also pleaded guilty to making an erroneous declaration on a customs export form.
Sentencing will take place in January 2018.
International security expert and Waikato University law professor Al Gillespie said the judge should ‘‘throw the book’’ at the company given the gravity of the international situation.
‘‘I cannot think of a more serious situation on the planet now.’’
Gillespie said the tension between North Korea and President Trump was at an ‘‘absolute knife edge’’.
‘‘In the wider context, what [Pacific Aerospace] have done isn’t going to make North Korea a bigger nuclear power.
‘‘But what is significant is the whole international community needs to be shoulder to shoulder right now in applying the toughest possible sanctions to North Korea.’’
Customs laid the charges after one of Pacific Aerospace’s P-750 XSTOL planes was spotted at the Wonsan Air Festival in North Korea in September 2016.
The direct or indirect supply of aircraft, related parts and aerospace training to North Korea is a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1718 agreed in 2006.