DPRK
Sanctions
Report Named
Ethiopia &
DRC But
Reuters
Censored,
Rodman
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 26 --
When the new
UN North
Korean
sanctions
report was
“obtained” by
Reuters, then
nearly
immediately by
other Western
wire services,
some wondered
why it was
released in
this
choreographed
way.
Reuters
did not put
the report
online,
instead making
its own
choices of
which nations
to list:
“countries
such as
Brazil, China,
Egypt, Greece,
Japan,
Malaysia,
Peru, Russia,
Singapore and
Thailand.”
But tellingly,
there's more.
For example
the report at
Paragraphs
92-93 says
that North
Korean
ammunition was
shipped to the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo in
early 2009.
Why didn't
Reuters, which
as Inner City
Press has
noted has
(mis) reported
that the UN
“paused”
support to a
DRC Army
action against
the Hutu FDLR
militia which
had not then
even begun,
report on this
part of the
document
(which it also
didn't put
online)?
Similarly,
the new DPRK
report says
that
“88.
The Panel
continued to
investigate a
possible
connection
between an
Ethiopian
entity
(Homicho
Ammunition
Engineering
Industry) and
a DPRK entity
(Korea Mineral
Trading
General
Corporation)
that may have
been in
violation of
the arms
embargo.
Ethiopian
authorities
informed the
Panel that a
“Korea Mineral
Trading
General
Corporation”
has been
removed from
the list of
suppliers on
the Homicho
Ammunition
Engineering
Industry
website. The
Panel awaits
further
information
from
Ethiopia.”
As Inner City
Press noted,
when an
ex-Reuters
reporter who
then went on
the UN's Group
of Experts of
the Somalia
Eritrea
Monitoring
Group and
wrote a
“regime
change” letter
on SEMG letter
head was
exclusively
exposed by
Inner City
Press and
resigned,
Reuters never
reported on
it.
This is how
the UN -- and
Reuters --
work.
In fact, the Reuters
scribe got
Google to
censor his
own anti-Press
“for the
record” filing
to the UN,
here.
Equally
comically, the
DPRK report
says, of
“Gifts given
by Dennis
Rodman and
Paddy Power,”
that
“Despite
the lack of
informaiton
from Dennis
Rodman, the
Panel was able
to confirm
some of the
gifts he
presented. The
Irish company,
Paddy Power,
which
accompanied Mr
Rodman on the
December 2013
trip, valued
the gifts at
around $3,000.
(Paddy Power's
gifts include
a bottle of
Jameson
whiskey, a
decanter and
glass set,
baby clothing
and a Mulberry
handbag.)
“The
US informed
the Panel that
appropriate
measures were
taken in
response. In
addition, it
said that it
lacked
sufficient
information at
that time to
determine
whether there
was a
violation of
the luxury
goods embargo
but that some
of the items
were “likely
to be
considered
luxury
goods...
15 CFR Part
746.
“Ireland
informed the
Panel that the
total value of
the good was
low and it it
constitute a
one-off
arranged and
could not be
considered
commercial
trade. Paddy
Power
explained that
it was unaware
that its
activities
could violate
sanctions.
Ireland
decided not to
pursue the
case.”
So the US
reported to
the UN Panel
about Dennis
Rodman. Inner
City Press had asked previous
chair of the
UN's 1718
Committee,
Sylvie Lucas
of Luxembourg,
about it, here.
On February
26, 2015, the
new chair from
Spain declined
a press
gaggle's
request for a
briefing, how
ever bland. He
might want to
check with
Lucas, or her
predecessor
Ambassador
Cabral of
Portugal --
such briefings
have become
expected, and
to cancel them
would be a
step backward,
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
says. We'll
have more on
this, too.
, 
