Wang Dewen’s daughter-in-law says the Chinese businessman could be dead. His wife claims he is traveling, but they are sure of one thing: He is definitely not working in North Korea.
At least that is what reporters were told during a visit to the home of the shadowy businessman who UN experts believe is one of several Chinese traders who may have helped Pyongyang build a fleet of about 300 military drones.
The network is believed to form a crucial part of the logistics chain that has allowed North Korea to fly uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) that have snooped on a new US missile defense system in the South and taken pictures of the Blue House.
Photo: AFP
Last year, the UN said the drone transfers illustrate the North’s “continued reliance on Chinese middlemen and cash transactions to procure commercial items for military purposes.”
Chinese companies have also sold the North trucks used to transport artillery rockets, rocket parts and special types of aluminum useful for its banned nuclear program, researchers said.
Pyongyang has been embroiled in a high-stakes standoff with Washington over its weapons ambitions, with matters taking a stunning turn as US President Donald Trump on Thursday agreed to a historic first meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The unprecedented summit has raised hopes of a potential deal, but Pyongyang has so far only agreed to a temporary suspension of nuclear tests, while the White House has stressed that sanctions will remain in place.
Beijing is under intense pressure from Washington to crack down on the sales of illicit material, and a UN panel of experts has repeatedly asked it to explain how drones were transferred from China to the North.
However, a forthcoming UN report on North Korean activities seen by reporters said experts have “yet to receive a reply” after asking once more for information from China about individuals who served as intermediaries for a UAV that crashed in South Korea in 2014.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement the country has “always comprehensively and strictly carried out UN Security Council resolutions” and actions violating UN resolutions “will be handled according to the law and regulations.”
Wang drew the attention of UN experts, but he has proved hard to track down.
His office in the northern rust belt city of Shenyang, China, has been occupied by another tenant and he did not respond to e-mailed requests for comment.
“He’s dead,” his daughter-in-law told reporters when she answered the door at his home in an upscale Shenyang apartment tower.
A few moments later, his wife emerged to say he is still alive, “doing business in the country” and “not in North Korea,” she added.
She was not aware of a 2016 UN report, which said Wang had tried to supply North Korea with miniature, low-light cameras useful for enhancing its drones’ surveillance capabilities.
His Hong Kong-registered company, HK Conie Technology Co, attempted to procure the military-grade parts from a UK-based supplier in 2014, UN experts said in the report.
The cameras would be used for security at a major Chinese company, Wang wrote in an export license application submitted to the British government.
However, the true end user was a “military logistics” company from the North, according to UN experts, citing a British customs investigation.
Britain denied the export license and referred Wang’s case to the UN.
In correspondence with the UN, Wang denied the cameras were for the North’s military, writing that what HK Conie did with Pyongyang was focused on “civil commodities.”
He admitted he had allowed North Koreans to use his company’s name so they could get “native” prices from Chinese suppliers, and that he had once maintained a bank account in the North for “convenient reception” of payment from companies based there.
His involvement in the drones business was news to Wang’s wife.
“He hasn’t told me about that,” she said.
At least five of North Korea’s drones have crashed since 2014, allowing investigators to recover crucial evidence linking Chinese companies to Pyongyang’s military program.
One UAV went down in May last year in a South Korean mountain range near the border following a five-hour flight that likely took it over Pyeongchang, the site of this year’s Winter Olympics.
The downed drone contained more than a dozen photographs of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system recently installed by the US military on a former golf course deep in South Korea.
Since 2006, UN sanctions have forbidden the transfer to the North of UAVs with ranges of more than 300km — well under the 490km flown by the drone that photographed the THAAD system.
The North had taken steps to erase the serial numbers in an attempt to “obfuscate the origin” of the drones, according to the upcoming UN report.
However, the make of the downed drone’s engine and autopilot — its on board computer — matched those of another North Korean UAV that crashed on the South’s Baengnyeong Island in 2014 and led UN investigators to a Beijing-based supplier, RedChina Geosystems Group.
The firm, which sells mapping equipment for drones among other products, purchased 10 export-controlled autopilots from Canadian company Micropilot for “civil mapping,” a document republished by the UN in 2016 said.
RedChina subsequently installed the devices in seven drones before selling them onward.
“Chinese people bought them from us,” RedChina chief executive officer Sam Chen (陳亮) said. “How they ended up in the DPRK, I don’t know,” he said, using an acronym of North Korea’s official name.
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