"Cutting Off" North Korea to "Denuclearize" Pyongyang
By Richard S. Ehrlich
BANGKOK, Thailand -- When U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Glyn T. Davies recently asked Bangkok's coup-installed military
government to support international sanctions against North Korea, he reflected concerns by analysts that Pyongyang
could build nuclear and other weapons with dual-use imports and profits from exports. "As a leader of ASEAN (the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Thailand has an important role to play in the broad effort to signal to North
Korea it will be isolated if it does not suspend its weapons programs and return to talks on the basis of a verifiable
commitment to denuclearize," Mr. Davies said.
"Cutting off the financial lifelines that enable North Korea's proscribed programs," is vital, the ambassador said.
When asked what, if any, businesses in Thailand enable Pyongyang's prohibited programs, U.S. Embassy Spokeswoman Melissa
Sweeney replied: "The ambassador's op-ed speaks for itself."
The envoy's 827-word statement was published on the Bangkok Post's opinion page on May 22, the third anniversary of the
coup when Thailand's U.S.-trained military toppled an elected government.
The ambassador's statement supports efforts by President Donald Trump and the U.N. to tighten sanctions against
Pyongyang.
During the weeks after Mr. Davies' statement, Thai officials and local media made no mention of the envoy's message,
and instead focused on Thailand's lack of freedom during the past three years under military rule.
Thailand's foreign ministry did not respond to repeated e-mailed questions about the ambassador's statement.
There are no confirmed public reports that any deals by Thais violate sanctions.
Bangkok has offered to play a "neutral" role "mediating" talks by the international community with Pyongyang.
Thailand and North Korea "have fairly robust, unreported trade ties," George McLeod, a Thailand-based political risk
consultant, said in an interview.
"These links have developed in part because the North Korean government has become concerned about its over-reliance on
[China's] goods, and has sought to tap other feeder markets," Mr. McLeod said.
"From Thailand’s perspective, the main concern is to avoid reputational damage from having the ‘Made in Thailand’ label
attached to goods appearing in North Korea.
"To avoid this, goods from Thailand are exported to two border towns" in China along the Chinese-North Korean frontier.
"They are then re-labeled as Chinese goods and exported by truck to North Korea. As far as I know, this trade is not
carried out under Thai government auspices. It is done by individual businessmen.
"In mid-2016, I met with a South Korean businessman who was exporting (edible) chicken feet from Thailand to Dandong,
and over the border," Mr. McLeod said.
Dandong, a thriving Chinese port on the Yalu River separating the two countries, is North Korea's gateway for foreign
business and travel.
"What I know is from businessmen that travel between Thailand, North Korea and China arranging these types of deals.
The ones I am aware of are consumer goods.
"There are absolutely no statistics on this trade because it is hidden underneath Thai exports to China," he said.
"I have never heard of financial -- i.e. bank -- relationships" between Bangkok and Pyongyang, Mr. McLeod said.
"While North Korean illicit shipments -- such as military equipment and counterfeit banknotes -- were repeatedly
intercepted by Thai authorities, so far Thailand has not been regarded as a major source of Weapons of Mass
Destruction-related North Korean imports," said Balazs Szalontai in an interview.
Mr. Szalontai, based in Seoul, South Korea, is an associate professor in Korea University's North Korean Studies
Department and editorial board member of the North Korean Review journal. "The list of Specially Designated Nationals
(SDN), which is periodically updated by the U.S. Treasury, has not implied a strong link between the two countries," Mr.
Szalontai said.
Thai businesses did $53 million in trade with North Korea in 2016, making it Pyongyang's fourth largest partner,
Bloomberg news reported. China was Pyongyang's biggest trader in 2016 with $6.1 billion in deals, it said.
India followed with $145 million, the Philippines had $89 million, and Russia's trade was $84 million.
During previous years "North Korea’s recorded imports from Thailand have been traditionally dominated by rice, rubber,
wood, metals including stainless steel, minerals, chemicals, plastics, electronic circuits, and computer parts," Mr.
Szalontai said.
"Stainless steel and electronic circuits were potentially or actually within the range of the U.N. sanctions imposed on
North Korean imports, as they can be of dual use -- i.e., potentially useful for North Korea’s missile programs," he
said.
It was unclear what items Thais sold to North Koreans during 2016 and 2017, or how recently Thais exported stainless
steel and electronic circuits, or if those items violated the newest sanctions. "North Korean trade enterprises active
in Thailand habitually preferred to operate in a non-transparent or semi-transparent way to evade inspections and
sanctions, not the least because they often functioned as front organizations for illicit economic activities," Mr.
Szalontai said.
North Korea previously exported to Thailand gold, iron, steel, electrical machinery, chemicals, and seafood.
North Korea's Internet connections rely on a joint venture with a subsidiary of Loxley, a family-owned Thai
telecommunications company which has publicly operated in North Korea for more than a decade and built their first
mobile phone network.
International sanctions forbid trading weapons, ammunition, nuclear items, some metals and bank transactions, plus a
ban on North Korean-flagged flights, global travel by some North Korean people, and exporting luxury goods and other
specific items to Pyongyang.
Other deals, such as importing and exporting some commodities, are occasionally allowed.
Pyongyang also operates restaurants in Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal and across China, plus the Middle East
and Africa. "Most of the money earned goes to the regime," Jim Kelman, a retired U.S. State Department officer who was
based in South Korea, Thailand and elsewhere in Asia, said in an interview in 2016.
"The restaurants can, and likely are, being used to launder illegal or counterfeit funds in [some of] the countries in
which they operate. This is an ongoing concern of the U.S. and the international community," said Mr. Kelman who is now
a program officer at Washington-based Meridian International Center which is described as a private non-profit agency
involved in global leadership and cultural diplomacy.
"With the advent of stronger international financial sanctions, there are fewer ways that North Korea can earn hard
currency," Mr. Kelman said.
North Korea's largest embassy in Southeast Asia is located in Bangkok, as is South Korea's.
Thailand is a non-NATO treaty ally of the U.S.
Last month, Mr. Trump boosted Thailand's coup leader Prayuth Chan-ocha, who is now prime minister, by inviting him to
the White House at a future, unspecified date.
In 2015, North Korea's then-Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong visited Bangkok and asked Thailand to invest.
"They are not open to inviting just any country, but they are keen on inviting us," Thailand's then-Foreign Minister
Tanasak Patimapragorn said at the time.
They discussed Pyongyang's interest in "food security, agriculture and public health, ICT (information and
communication technology) and tourism," Mr. Tanasak said.
"Thailand's unusual position as a top trading partner of North Korea gives it a potentially large role in helping
carrying out sanctions," the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok said in a 2006 cable, according to the anti-secrecy website
WikiLeaks.
Titled, "Thailand's Trade With North Korea: Doing Business With the Hermit Kingdom," the cable said trade was
"relatively insignificant for the Thais... but unusual behavior by North Korean companies in Thailand raises some
suspicions as to what other activities they [North Koreans] may be up to."
The American "Embassy also speculates that North Korean businesses may be passing themselves off as generic 'Koreans'
to avoid controversy," it said.
"Deception appears to be standard practice for North Korean companies located in Bangkok," including addresses that are
"mail drops and not the actual location."
Incorrect phone numbers on invoices, suspicious financial statements and possible bribery also made it difficult for
the U.S. Embassy to track deals between Thai businesses and Pyongyang. "North Korea's trade relationship with Thailand
is shrouded in a veil of mystery," the cable said.
***
Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist from San Francisco, California, reporting news from Asia since 1978 and
winner of Columbia University's Foreign Correspondent's Award. He is a co-author of three non-fiction books about
Thailand, including "'Hello My Big Big Honey!' Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews," "60
Stories of Royal Lineage," and "Chronicle of Thailand: Headline News Since 1946." Mr. Ehrlich also contributed to the
chapter about "Ceremonies and Regalia" in a book published in English and Thai titled, "King Bhumibol Adulyadej, A
Life's Work: Thailand's Monarchy in Perspective." Mr. Ehrlich's newest Virtual Reality novel titled, "Sheila Carfenders,
Doctor Mask & President Akimbo," is an immersive three-dimensional, one-hour experience with Oculus Rift technology.
His websites are
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