North Korean Arms Were Headed to Iran, Thailand Report Says

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) — An airport in Iran’s capital of Tehran was the intended destination for a North Korean weapons shipment seized in Bangkok on Dec. 12, according to a confidential report to the United Nations Security Council by Thailand’s government.

A copy of the report, obtained from diplomats whose governments hold Security Council seats, said the 40-ton cargo’s destination was Airport Mahrabad in Tehran. It says the plane departed from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and that the shipper was the Korea Mechanical Industry Co.

Thai authorities seized the Russian-made Ilyushin II-76 cargo aircraft after receiving tips from several different intelligence agencies. The report says the cargo included 49 rockets, a rocket launcher, three crates of fuses and rocket- propelled grenades.

The plane was impounded under a UN resolution passed in June 2009 to punish Kim Jong Il’s regime for firing a Taepodong- 2 rocket over the Sea of Japan in April and testing a second nuclear bomb a month later. The measure authorizes inspections of North Korean air or sea cargo suspected of containing weapons and bars North Korea from exporting any arms.

BusinessWeek