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Iran's Shahin (Hawk) missiles during a ceremony in Tehran on April 11, 2010. According to a recent confidential U.N. report, Iran and North Korea apparently have been trading missile technology plans with each other. (Vahidreza Alaei/Getty Images)
Iran and North Korea apparently have been trading missile technology plans with each other, according to a confidential United Nations expert report obtained by Reuters. China has attempted to block the release of the report.
A U.N. report said that the two countries were trading technology in violation of sanctions and were using “trans-shipment through a neighboring third country” said the news agency.
U.N. diplomats told Reuters that the third-party country is China.
Sanctions were imposed on North Korea after it conducted nuclear testing in 2006 and 2009. The sanctions include a ban on trading missile technology with the isolationist communist regime.
“Prohibited ballistic missile-related items are suspected to have been transferred between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Islamic Republic of Iran on regular scheduled flights of Air Koryo and Iran Air," the report said, according to Reuters.
The Chinese regime had been trying to block submission of the report by telling its member on the panel not to sign off on it, reported the New York Times. The report was finally submitted to the U.N. Security Council over the weekend after several days delay.
“The Chinese expert refused to sign the report, under pressure from Beijing, and this raises serious issues about a panel of experts that is supposed to be free from political interference,” a top U.N. diplomat told the newspaper, requesting anonymity.
