Jail for Singaporean who Sold Strawberry Milk to North Korea
- kcna.co.jp
VIVA – A Singaporean has been jailed for selling nearly US$1 million or IDR15,6 billion worth of strawberry milk and coffee to North Korea. Such sales have also occurred in other illegal trades from Singapore that included shipments of wine, whisky, and perfume to Pyongyang.
Previously, North Korea has been hit with a barrage of sanctions, including from the United Nations, over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests, while Singapore suspended trade ties with the country in 2017.
A former manager at beverage company Pokka International, Phua Sze Hee was sentenced to five weeks' imprisonment on Monday, December 12, 2022, after he pleaded guilty to his actions.
From 2017 to 2018, he sold beverages including strawberry-flavored milk and coffee drinks to several Singapore companies, including being exported to North Korea for sale there.
Ilustrasi susu stroberi Pokka
- Pokka
He did not get any commission from the sale, but the sale allowed him to meet his monthly sales target, court documents said, as quoted from NDTV, Wednesday, December 14, 2022.
The documents added that in 2014 a customer had introduced Phua to "one Mr. Kim, who was working as an ambassador in the North Korean Embassy in Singapore" and was later introduced to another employee at the embassy.
Kim Jong-Un is known to have a good taste in alcohol and his father Kim Jong-Il reportedly spent more than US$700,000 (IDR10.9 billion) a year importing Hennessy cognac.
The maximum penalty for exporting goods from Singapore to North Korea is a fine of up to SGD$100,000 (IDR1.1 billion) or three times the value of the exported goods, up to two years in prison, or both.
There have been several cases in recent years where companies and individuals from Singapore, a major trading hub and financial center, have been prosecuted for supplying banned goods to North Korea. In addition, two Singapore companies were charged earlier this year for exporting whisky, wine, and other beverages to North Korea.
In 2019, a court in the city-state jailed the director of a Singapore trading company for nearly three years for supplying US$4.4 million or IDR68,8 billion worth of luxury goods, including alcohol and perfume, to North Korea.
Then, In 2016, a shipping company in the city was fined for its role in an attempt to smuggle Soviet-era weapons and fighter jets from Cuba to North Korea.
