Yet, according to the United States Treasury, this building on Kabar Aye Pagoda Road in Yangon’s Mayangone township is home to Soe Min Htike Company, one of three private firms sanctioned last week for their alleged involvement in weapons deals between Myanmar and North Korea.
“They never had a company signboard. It’s always been like this,” said a man in his early 40s who works in the office of a construction company beside the building in question.
“We’ve heard that they are involved in something [unusual],” said another man, this one his early 50s, sitting next to him. When The Myanmar Timesasked whether this included “weapons deals with North Korea”, he replied, “Yes. But we can’t say for sure it’s true.”
Both said they knew it was the listed address of Soe Min Htike because people responding to the company’s recruitment ads would regularly wander into the area and ask if the address is correct, most recently about three months ago.
The building, though, has never really had the trappings of an office, such as staff, equipment and stationery. “After five o’clock in the evening, some people will go in and out sometimes,” one neighbour said.
On December 17, US Treasury Department announced sanctions against Lieutenant Colonel Kyaw Nyunt Oo, a staff officer at the Tatmadaw’s Directorate of Defence Industries, as well as three companies: Soe Min Htike Co Ltd, Asia Metal Company and Excellence Mineral Manufacturing Company. The statement said that they have all had ties with DDI, which Treasury placed on its sanctions list in 2012.
The statement gave two office addresses for Soe Min Htike, which the department said has been a procurement agent for DDI, especially in importing foreign supplies and equipment, for 30 years. As of February, the department said, about 30 North Korean officials are thought to have been working at DDI.
When The Myanmar Times visited the second listed address for Soe Min Htike, on Kan Street in Hlaing township, on December 19, residents also confirmed it was the company’s office. However, a man emerged from the four-storey residence, hidden behind a 20-foot steel door, and insisted he didn’t know anything about Soe Min Htike. “We are not even a company – this is just a house,” said the man, who appeared in his early 30s and was wearing a longyi and white shirt.
He then backtracked and said the company had been “abolished” in 2008, before a woman joined him and both asked repeatedly, “Who told you that we are Soe Min Htike Company?”
Asia Metal Company, which was sanctioned for constructing buildings and supplying construction materials for a DDI factory, was less evasive.
General manager Ko Htain Lin told The Myanmar Times on December 18 that he had been surprised by the US Treasury’s decision, which he said would harm the company’s image and operations.
“I consider this is a mistake. All we did was construct warehouses in Magwe Region between 2008 and 2010 [for DDI]. We didn’t do anything else,” he said.
“At that time we really didn’t know that it broke the international rules and regulations.”
The third sanctioned company, Excellence Mineral Manufacturing, was established in 1980 and has almost 200 employees, according to its profile on Myanmaryp.com, a business directory. The profile also says it is based in Taiwan and North Carolina in the US, and posts are written under the name Ken Wu.
A Yangon-based employee, who asked not to be named, said in a phone interview the company has no links to North Korea. “We are just a small company, with a small factory producing some hardware and construction tools. We are not related to North Korea or military in this country at all,” the woman said.
The Treasury said the sanctions were designated under Executive Order 13619, which was signed by US President Barak Obama in July 2012 July to block those who are a threat to peace, security or stability in Myanmar.
The statement said the sanctions target only Lt Col Kyaw Nyunt Oo and DDI but not the Myanmar government, which has publicly pledged to abide United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874, which prohibits the purchase of military equipment and assistance from North Korea.
A senior official from President Office who asked not to be named told The Myanmar Times that the sanctions were levied for “old cases” related to the seizure of a ship heading to Myanmar with weapons material from North Korea by Japanese authorities in August 2012.
He said the incident, while it occurred after the transition to quasi-civilian rule, pertained to contracts signed by the military regime.
“Under the old contracts there were some [weapons or military equipment] Myanmar still needed to get from North Korea. These are not new contracts [signed by] President U Thein Sein’s government,” the official said.
The official added that the government had been forced to build military relations with and buy equipment from countries like North Korea, China and Russia because the US and its Western allies had introduced an arms embargo, which remains in place.
“For our nation’s defence, the Myanmar government had to buy weapons from countries like North Korea, China and Russia. The current Pyithu Hluttaw speak U Thura Shwe Mann himself went to North Korean and was involved in the negotiations,” the official added.
He said Myanmar had already clarified its position on North Korea ties to the international community and expressed confidence the latest move would not hurt relation between Myanmar and its new foreign partners, such as the US, European Union and Japan.
In July, the Treasury department announced it had sanctioned Lieutenant General Thein Htay from DDI for its links to North Korea. While it has clearly set its sights on the directorate, it has overlooked the role played by figures such as Thura U Shwe Mann, who led a parliamentary delegation to Washington in June.
Derek Mitchell, the US ambassador to Myanmar, told local newspaper editors on December 19 that the US had reason to believe that both Lt Col Kyaw Nyunt Oo and Lt Gen Thein Htay have been actively engaged in activities that violate Resolution 1874.
“We will not rest until we are confident there is a complete cessation [of military ties with North Korea] consistent with UN Security Council resolutions,” he said.
In May 2012, President U Thein Sein admitted during a meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak that Myanmar had purchased weapons from North Korea over the preceding two decades, the New York Times reported. The president vowed that these purchases would end but Myanmar and North Korea analyst Bertil Lintner recently wrote that he believed this was not the case.
“In fact,” he wrote in September, “evidence abounds that weapons exchanges continue, only more discreetly.”
source: The Myanmar Times
No comments:
Post a Comment