Terror

Joshua Stanton
As noted in Section II.E.1, the U.S. State Department cited the seizure of the M/V Francop in
support of Syria’s SSOT listing. It did not cite the seizure in any of its annual “Country Reports”
about North Korea, however.
3. 2009: Seizure of Weapons Shipment at Bangkok
In December 2009, a chartered Il-76 transport aircraft was intercepted at Bangkok while en
route from Pyongyang to Iran. 290 A 2013 UN POE report found that although the aircraft’s
declared cargo was “mechanical parts,” its hold was loaded with “35 tons of conventional arms
and munitions, including 240-mm rockets, rocket-propelled grenades and man-portable air
defence systems, valued at over US$ 16 million.” 291
[Man-portable surface-to-air missiles, intercepted at Bangkok. Image Credit: UN POE 292 ]
The UN POE called the shipment “a clear violation” of the UN’s North Korea sanctions resolutions.
293 The flight crossed through Chinese airspace. 294 The UN POE reported the existence
290 “Thailand seizes ‘arms plane flying from North Korea’,” BBC News, 12 December 2009.
291 Report of the UN POE established pursuant to resolution 1874 (2009), para. 75, U.N. Doc. S/2013/337 (2013)
at http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2013/337.
292 Id. at 33, Figure XVIII.
293 Id. at para. 75.
294 Nicholas Kralev, “China fails to stop illegal North Korean arms shipments,” The Washington Times, 17
December 2009.
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