North Korea has been generating foreign exchange by re-exporting cigarettes manufactured by British American Tobacco Plc, the Financial Times reported, citing documents that it had seen.I wonder if BAT will stop selling to the North Korean market because of this. Then again, I wonder why an American company (in name only?) is selling stuff to the DPRK in the first place.
BAT sold the cigarettes, made and packaged in Singapore for the North Korean market, to a Singaporean distributor for shipment to Nampo, a port near Pyongyang, the FT said. At least 15,000 cases, worth $6.3 million, were re-exported out of Nampo to ports in Vietnam and the Philippines to go to markets where they commanded a higher price, the FT said.
BAT said it halted exports to North Korea after discovering a diverted cargo in August, the FT reported.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Another reason to quit smoking
Is your tobacco habit helping fund the North Korean regime? Maybe yes, if you live in Vietnam or the Philippines. From Bloomberg:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The "American" name could be taken from anywhere in the Americas: be it North America, South America, or Central America.
ReplyDeleteA little place called Venezula is also part of the Americas and isn't above selling its products to shady regimes.