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Cyanide to N Korea blocked
18/09/2004 09:11 - (SA)
Seoul - Lawmakers said on Saturday that South Korea and Thailand in May stopped a shipment to North Korea of sodium cyanide, a chemical that could be used to produce deadly sarin gas.
Representative Park Sung-Vum and Kim Jae-Won of the opposition Grand National Party said South Korean authorities learned that 142.4 tonnes of the chemical were about to be re-exported to North Korea via Thailand.
The 142.4 tonnes were from some 773 tonnes of sodium cyanide produced in South Korea and exported to a Thai firm in four shipments between February and April this year.
Foreign minister Ban Ki-Moon acknowledged the incident during a National Assembly testimony.
"When such chemicals are being shipped abroad, it must be thoroughly checked who is the final consumer of the shipment," Park was quoted as telling the Munhwa daily.
"We succeeded in blocking the shipment this time but such chemicals might have already been shipped to North Korea on other occasions in the past," he said.
Sodium cyanide, which is also widely used to produce insecticides and in metal industries, is used to produce sarin gas.
Sarin was used by a religious sect in Japan in 1995 in a attack on the Tokyo subway system, in which 12 people were killed and thousands injured.
Because of the dual use, the chemical is subject to multilateral export control arrangements.
In May, Germany stopped the export of 30 tons of sodium cyanide to Singapore, after learning that North Korea was the buyer, the Joongang daily said.
- AFP
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