Police arrest 3 men for alleged illegal exports to North Korea

December 15, 2017

TOKYO- Japanese police on Thursday arrested three men on suspicion of illegally exporting foods and other products to North Korea via Singapore.

Among the three arrested by a joint investigation team of the police departments of five prefectures, including Kyoto, western Japan, and Niigata, central Japan, for an alleged foreign exchange law breach was Yuzuru Yachita, 47, head of Tokyo-based environmental equipment company M-Create Inc.

The Kyoto police department did not disclose whether the suspects admitted to the allegations.

The joint team the same day raided multiple locations, including an office of a group related to the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon, in the Korean commerce and industry center building in Taito Ward in Tokyo.

Yachita, from the city of Shibata, Niigata, and the other two allegedly had 1,528 boxes containing foods and other goods, with the declared value of some 7.16 million yen, loaded onto a ship at the port of Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on June 30, 2014, and shipped the cargoes to Singapore in order to eventually export them to North Korea illegally, the sources said.

After arriving in Singapore, the cargoes were transported to Dalian, China, and then to North Korea, according to the sources.

Yokohama Customs is also investigating the case for suspected customs law violation. Contained in the boxes were instant foods, snacks, shampoos and other goods, informed sources said.

In 2015, Japanese police arrested people including the president of a trading company in Tokyo for illegally importing North Korean matsutake mushrooms, and raided the home of a Chongryon executive and other places.

The Japanese government bans trade with North Korea as part of economic sanctions on the country over its nuclear and missile testing. Jiji Press