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Notes

1 US Defense Intelligence Agency, ‘North Korea: The Foundations for Military Strength’, October 1991, available at <https://www.fas.org/irp/dia/product/knfms/knfms_toc.html>, accessed 20 October 2015. See chap. 3 on ‘Foreign Policy Goals'.

2 In exchange, the Maltese government had to provide one-way tickets for the North Korean instructors, who were sent to train their Maltese counterparts in the use of the gifted weapons. In addition, Malta covered their ‘subsistence expenditure during the flight and expenses for lodging, meals, medical treatment, transport means (including the driver) and salaries during their stay in Malta, and training equipment needed in the education of the Maltese military personnel’. See Malta Independent, ‘1982 Labour Government “Secret” Agreement with North Korea’, 7 February 2010, <http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2010-02-07/news/1982-labour-government-secret-agreement-with-north-korea-times-change-alex-sceberras-trigona-270034/>, accessed 23 October 2015.

3 ‘Blue Lantern Check on Denied License Application 050128842’, Cable #09STATE81473_a, 5 August 2009, accessed via Wikileaks on 27 May 2014.

4 Michael Ashkenazi and Jan Grebe, ‘Chapter 3: MANPAD Transfers’ in Michael Ashkenazi et al., ‘MANPADS: A Terrorist Threat to Civil Aviation?’, Bonn International Center for Conversion, Brief No. 47, February 2013, p. 48, <https://www.bicc.de/publications/publicationpage/publication/manpads-a-terrorist-threat-to-civilian-aviation-382/>, accessed 23 October 2015.

5 For information on the Azerbaijan case see Margaret Davis, ‘Man Jailed for Azerbaijan Arms Bid’, Independent, 20 July 2012.

6 Director of Central Intelligence, National Intelligence Estimate, ‘Prospects for Special Weapons Proliferation and Control’, NIE 5-91C, Vol. II: Annex A (Country Studies), July 1991, p. 6, available at <http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/116907>, accessed 23 October 2015.

7 Joseph S Bermudez, Jr, ‘A History of Ballistic Missile Development in the DPRK’, Center for Nonproliferation Studies Occasional Paper No. 2, 1999, p. 12.

8 Ibid.

9 ‘August 2008 Visit to North Korea by a UAE Delegation for Meetings with KOMID’, Cable #08STATE123035, 19 November 2008, accessed via Wikileaks on 2 November 2014.

10 National Intelligence Council, ‘Foreign Missile Developments and Ballistic Missile Threats through 2015’, unclassified summary of National Intelligence Estimate, December 2001, p. 10.

11 ‘Text of David Kay's Unclassified Statement’, CNN, 3 October 2003, <http://edition.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/02/kay.report/>, accessed 23 October 2015.

12 Ibid.

13 David E Sanger and Thom Shanker, ‘A Region Inflamed: For the Iraqis, A Missile Deal that Went Sour; Files Tell of Talks with North Korea’, New York Times, 1 December 2003.

14 Author interview with Interviewee E, conducted in May 2014. Corroborated by Interviewee D via e-mail in January 2015.

15 Prices have been adjusted for inflation.

16 See ‘Report of the Panel of Experts Established Pursuant to Resolution 1874 (2009)’, S/2013/337, Annex XVII, p. 40 for the number of North Korean technicians. See p. 112 for the related contract.

17 There has been some suspicion that the MV Westerhever's arms-laden containers were in fact bound for end users in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. Indeed, the 2010 report to South Africa's parliament submitted by its National Prosecuting Authority claims the same. However, this detail did not feature in South Africa's report to the UN, and the vast majority of analysis subsequently published by the Panel of Experts on North Korea and others does not concur that the intended recipient was anyone other than the RoC government. See National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa, ‘Annual Report of the National Prosecuting Authority 2009/2010’, 2010, p. 22, <http://www.npa.gov.za/UploadedFiles/Sub-Programme1%20Public%20Prosecutions_2010.pdf>, accessed 23 October 2015.

18 Joe Lauria, Gordon Fairclough and Peter Wonacott, ‘Pretoria Seized North Korean Weapons’, Wall Street Journal, 26 February 2010. Original figure provided was $750,000. This figure has been converted to euros using sensitivity-tested historical rates and adjusted for inflation.

19 Interviews with experts familiar with the deal.

20 Africa Confidential, ‘The Dar Leader’ (Vol. 54, No. 16, August 2013), <http://www.africa-confidential.com/article-preview/id/5002/The_Dar_leader>, accessed 23 October 2015. F-7s are Chinese upgrades of the Soviet MiG-21, which forms the backbone of North Korea's air force. While North Korea would not likely be able to provide all of the spare parts for these jets, as they differ slightly from the variants it deploys, the country's technicians would be familiar enough with most of the technology to offer repair services, for example.

21 East African, ‘Tanzania Denies Presence of North Korean Army Experts’, 14 August 2013.

22 ‘Report of the Panel of Experts Established Pursuant to Resolution 1874 (2009)’, S/2014/147, p. 35.

23 ‘Report of the Panel of Experts Established Pursuant to Resolution 1874 (2009)’, S/2015/131, 23 February 2015, p. 79.

24 Africa Confidential, ‘The MiGs of Mwanza’ (Vol. 55, No. 10, 16 May 2014), <http://www.africa-confidential.com/article-preview/id/5628/The_MIGs_of_Mwanza>, accessed 23 October 2015.

25 The container had been loaded onto the MV Kota Karim in Shanghai, having arrived there on the MV Monrovia, presumably from the DPRK. ‘Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 2060 (2012)’, S/2013/440, p. 27.

26 Ibid.

27 ‘Report of the Panel of Experts Established Pursuant to Resolution 1874 (2009)’, S/2014/147, p. 34.

28 Ibid.

29 ‘Hungarian Embassy in Ethiopia, Telegram, 25 November 1980. Subject: DPRK-Ethiopian Relations’, 25 November 1980, History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, MOL, XIX-J-1-j Korea, 1980, 84. doboz, 81-10, 00884/1980. Translated for NKIDP by Balázs Szalontai; available at <http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/115823>, accessed 23 October 2015.