UN report alleges Nigeria planned to purchase arms from North Korea

A forthcoming UN report alleges that Nigeria planned to purchase $3.5m worth of arms from Haegeumgang Trading Corporation, a “weapons trading entity” associated with the Korean People’s Army and North Korean government. This would be a major violation of sanctions imposed by the UN, European Union, and US, all of which prohibit the purchase of arms from North Korea.

It is not yet clear whether the deal would have gone ahead before the UN panel exposed the potential purchase. Modupe Ativie, a specialist in regulatory compliance and sanctions based in Port Harcourt, believes “it is very unlikely that Nigerian government leaders would outrightly breach US, UK, and EU sanctions”.

“My first though[t] is that this could be [the actions of] another military or militia group in the country, such as the Boko Haram group in Northern Nigeria, or other smaller ones in the Niger Delta region,” she says. “The consequences of going through with a transaction like this would be so grievous that I doubt that Nigeria would want to trade with a globally sanctioned country like North Korea.”

Source: The Africa Report