Ethiopia-N. Korea arms deal is a mistake – ex-US envoy
April 9, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — A former US envoy on North Korea said Monday that Washington made a mistake in assenting to Ethiopia’s arms purchase from Pyongyang, thus potentially allowing other countries to deal with the communist regime believed to have a stockpile of missiles and nuclear weapons.
“It points out that things are not black and white,” Jack Pritchard, now president of the Washington-based Korea Economic Institute, told reporters.
He further said that the decision to allow the Ethiopia-North Korea deal apparently was made because other US goals superseded compliance with a UN Security Council resolution banning military trade with Pyongyang, reported the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
“I think it was a mistake,” he said.
The New York Times reported over the weekend Washington allowed Ethiopia to buy tank parts and other military equipment to refurbish its military. The US learned of it in January this year through intelligence agencies.
The Ethiopians told US officials they needed time in transitioning to other sellers and pledged to work with Washington in not making such purchases in the future, according to the paper.
There was a similar case in 2002, in which Spain intercepted a ship carrying Scud missiles from North Korea to Yemen, but the US asked that the vessel be released. In both cases, Washington’s policy on fighting terrorism and extremists overrode other considerations, the New York Times said.
The latest transaction violates Security Council Resolution 1718, adopted following North Korea’s first nuclear weapons test on Oct. 9. The resolution, endorsed unanimously by the 15-member council, including North Korea’s longstanding ally China, prohibits trade of military goods and equipment with Pyongyang by UN member states.
The US decision on Ethiopia causes complications, Pritchard said.
“How does the US, then, turn to another country who is faced with a similar choice and say you should not allow shipments through your facilities from North Korea or to North Korea because it violates Resolution 1718?” he said.
“(It) presents a very difficult challenge for the administration to explain in a credible way. Again, I think it was a mistake,” Pritchard said.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, pressed Monday to comment on the report, declined to answer on the grounds that it touches on intelligence.
“If there are any questions that need to be raised, they can put it to members states of the United Nations who may be trafficking with the North Koreans in arms or parts or supplies that may be covered by Security Council resolutions,” he said.
(ST)