Wednesday, July 01, 2009 WASHINGTON: The United States Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions on an Iranian-based firm for its alleged ties to North Korea’s missile proliferation network.The firm, identified as Hong Kong Electronic, located in Iran’s Kish Island, provided support to North Korea’s Tanchon Commercial Bank and Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID).Those two North Korean entities had been designated by the United States and the United Nations Security Council for nuclear proliferation activities.“North Korea uses front companies like Hong Kong Electronics and a range of other deceptive practices to obscure the true nature of its financial dealings, making it nearly impossible for responsible banks and governments to distinguish legitimate from illegitimate North Korean transactions,” said Stuart Levey, Treasury under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.The Treasury Department said that Hong Kong Electronics has since 2007 transferred millions of dollars of “proliferation-related funds” on behalf of the two North Korean entities and has “facilitated the movement of money from Iran to North Korea on behalf of KOMID.”It said that Tanchon had been involved in financing ballistic missile sales from KOMID to Iran’s Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which is the Iranian organization responsible for developing liquid-fueled missiles.Tanchon has also maintained an active relationship with Iran’s Bank Sepah, said the Treasury Department. “The U.S. has reason to believe that the Tanchon-Bank Sepah relationship has been used for North Korea-Iran proliferation-related transactions.”
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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