A North Korean arms-smuggling shipper operated openly from an office near Shinbashi Station in 2014, and no one was ever prosecuted for it.
(Stock image/Pyongyang, North Korea, from Pixabay)
In the 20 years since its first nuclear test in 2006, North Korea has steadily advanced its nuclear capabilities while deftly slipping past United Nations sanctions.
A Japanese expert who monitored UN sanctions enforcement says that some states, including China and Russia, have served as loopholes in the sanctions regime. He adds that flaws in the legal systems of countries including Japan have also hollowed out the measures.
Operating Openly in Japan
In February 2014, a year after North Korea's third nuclear test, Katsuhisa Furukawa made a discovery in front of Shinbashi Station in Tokyo. He was then serving as a member of the Panel of Experts for the UN Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee.
In a small commercial building near SL Square, he found an office set up by people tied to a major shipping company responsible for North Korean arms smuggling. A month later, the office was empty.
"People involved in sanctions violations were coming and going from Japan openly, and not a single one was prosecuted," Furukawa recalls.
Those blamed for weakening enforcement have typically been African and Southeast Asian countries that have long maintained friendly ties with China, Russia, and North Korea. Furukawa argues that Japan and Europe also bear serious responsibility.
North Korea is willing to go to extraordinary lengths to secure funding for its top priority: nuclear weapons and missile development. According to Furukawa, countries have mistakenly assumed their existing legal systems were sufficient to restrict sanctioned individuals' entry and activities and to enforce measures against them.
As a result, he says, authorities worldwide have repeatedly failed to stop smuggling operations in plain sight. The Shinbashi case, near Japan's central government district in Tokyo, was one such example.
Dozens of Spies Active in Tokyo
In July this year, The New York Times reported that Russian intelligence, which is waging its invasion of Ukraine, has a base in Tokyo.
Dozens of spies expelled from Western countries are reportedly operating there. Japanese-made parts are suspected of flowing to Russia through third countries, and the paper noted that Japan has long been known as a "spy paradise."
"People who should be barred from entering the country and conducting economic activity are openly running companies and living in Japan," Furukawa stresses. He argues that Japan must amend its domestic laws to strengthen its response to violations of UN sanctions resolutions and to international crime.
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(Read the article in Japanese.)
Author: Tatsuya Tokiyoshi, The Sankei Shimbun