North Korean missile tests prompt Japanese government to closely monitor high-tech firms. Japanese companies are likely to face greater scrutiny on certain international sales of IT equipment following North Korea’s firing of seven missiles into the Sea of Japan early Wednesday.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) is working hard to check suspicious trading between Japanese companies and those with suspected links to North Korea, said a Japanese government spokesperson, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.
Sales of both electronic and mechanical high-tech equipment to North Korea are regulated, but evidence has suggested that much of the technology North Korea relies on for its military program comes from Japan.
In 2003 a North Korean defector who claimed to have worked in the country’s missile program told a U.S. Senate hearing that Japan was a major source for technology used in the missiles.
