Numerous seized shipments reveal dealings in missile parts and other weapons have continued despite UN sections

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

The countries known to have traded weapons with North Korea make a long list but the revelation that Cuba sent it missile parts and weapons on a ship stopped by Panama has puzzled some analysts.

North Korea and Cuba both see the US as their enemy and Havana hosted a senior North Korean military delegation less than a month ago. But the countries are not seen as major arms trade partners. Cuba has said Panama's seizing of a ship this week only involves obsolete weaponry that Havana had sent to be repaired in North Korea.

North Korea has a long history of aggressively buying, marketing and selling arms, especially in developing countries in the Middle East, Africa and south-east Asia. Much of that business was in sales of short- and medium-range missiles, but the market for full missile systems was thought to have dried up in recent years.

13 December 2009: Thai security forces unload a plane from North Korea that landed in Bangkok carrying surface-to-air missiles and other weapons. Thai authorities said the plane had been bound for Iran. Photograph: EPA

That's partly because of international pressure and sanctions banning weapons exports that followed North Korea's three nuclear tests since 2006 and a string of long-range rocket launches. Sales may have also suffered because of the poor-quality, Soviet-type weaponry that Pyongyang has traditionally produced.

Since the 1990s, analysts say, Pyongyang has been favouring exports of conventional weapons and the equipment and components that are used in missile production assembly lines. Under UN security council sanctions North Korea cannot export heavy arms or material related to nuclear weapons or missiles.

UN reports and a 2011 study by arms control expert Joshua Pollack, who has compiled public reports on seizures and inspection, give an insight into North Korea's arms dealings.

In late 2012 UN diplomats reported that 445 North Korean-made graphite cylinders, capable of being used to produce ballistic missiles, were seized in May from a Chinese freighter ship at the South Korean port of Busan on their way to Syria.

In December 2009 Thailand intercepted a charter jet from Pyongyang carrying 35 tonnes of conventional weapons, including surface-to-air missiles. Thai authorities reported that they were headed for Iran, a major North Korean missile and weapons client.

In October 2007 propellant blocks that could be used to power Scud missiles were seized from a ship heading to Syria, according to a report by a 2012 UN expert panel.

Pyongyang has tried to sell shorter-range missiles and Soviet-vintage rockets and guns to customers in Africa. There have been reports in recent years of seizures of shipments heading to Eritrea, Congo-Brazzaville and Burundi.

In November 2009 tank parts and equipment bound for Congo-Brazzaville were reportedly found in South Africa.

In three separate incidents in 1999 and 2000 missile parts and components were found to be on their way to Libya. In 1996 artillery rockets and Scud missile components were reportedly found in Switzerland and bound for Egypt.

Washington says one of the contracts between Burma's former ruling junta and North Korea was for Pyongyang to help build medium-range, liquid-fuelled ballistic missiles.

In June 2009 Japan's Daily Yomiuri newspaper reported three arrests over an alleged attempt, on instructions from North Korea, to illegally export to Burma a magnetic measuring device believed necessary for long-range ballistic missiles.

And on Tuesday the Panamanian president, Ricardo Martinelli, said the 14,000-tonne Chong Chon Gang, which had left Cuba for North Korea, was carrying missiles and other arms hidden beneath a cargo of sugar. He revealed a picture of a green tube that an expert said appeared to be a horizontal antenna for radar used to guide missiles fired by an air defence system.

Cuba's foreign ministry said the 240 metric tonnes of "obsolete defensive weapons" had been shipped out to be repaired and returned to the island. It said the cargo included two Volga and Pechora anti-aircraft missile systems, nine missiles "in parts and spares", two Mig-21 fighter jets and 15 engines for those planes.