Brian Lee of the JoongAng Ilbo has an excellent article on the Korean arms market and, while the article highlights the quality and capability of Korean manufacturers, it also shows how arms manufacturers also engage in shady and illegal deals with the wrong countries, such as Burma (Myanmar) and Iraq:
Just last November, the former president of Daewoo International, Lee Tae-yong, was slapped with a 50 million won ($52,000) fine ― other officials received suspended sentences ― for illegally trying to build an arms factory in Burma. The facility was geared to produce artillery shells. Daewoo is currently involved in developing Burma’s natural gas resources. Lee left the company after the incident, and he is appealing his fine.“It was an individual’s illegal act; otherwise the company would have been fined,” says Kim Bum-suk, an official at Daewoo.
Lee is now an external director of Korea Investment and Securities. Mun Chung-geun, an official at the company, said Lee was hired because of his overseas market expertise and that until a final verdict is reached, Lee should be considered innocent. “If he’s guilty, I think we will see him step down but until then, he’s done nothing wrong,” Mun said.
Yep, and justice needs a bullet-proof vest and a tank, just to survive nowadays.
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Also, with all due respect to the article’s author, according to other reports, elements of Daewoo and Doosan did help construct an ammunition facility in Burma and it produces more than just artillery shells, rather, it produces a variety of ammunition.
One individual’s illegal act, eh? I suppose Mr. Lee was just going to build the factory entirely by himself, on his own time.
#2: I was thinking the same thing. Artillery shells are so easy to make that one guy could set up a factory with one hand tied behind his back, right?
I have seen this kind of crap myself: “Surely it wouldn’t be a problem to re-export these [U.S. State Dept. munitions-list items] to [country on banned list], would it?” There is simply no sense of right and wrong or even lawful and unlawful, only making more coin. But when you explain that their company would essentially go out of business for making such a mistake, they listen.
#2,
Gotta respect him for his work ethics.
All since around 2001 . . . exactly.
The outgoing administration has much to account for, if not many documents to shred because there is definitely much more to this story that has not been written about yet.
There are a lot of countries - and arms exporters who operate from within these countries - who have dealt arms to the scum of the earth. Korea hasn’t been and isn’t one of the main offenders.
This is just preparation for unification! It splits the difference between the ROK and DPRK relationships with Myanmar. Just as long as the Burmese don’t get Scuds.
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[...] R. Elgin has stayed interested in the warped relationship between ROK’s Daewoo and Myanmar with this Brian Lee feature on an artillery deal. “There is a watch list of countries with [...]