Sporting weapons for Kim Jong Un

Goods category: Unclear

Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, 27.02.2019; cropped image.

In 2012, around 150 rifles and pistols worth a total of approximately 170’000 Swiss francs were exported from Switzerland to North Korea. SECO had approved the delivery in 2011 and described the weapons as sporting firearms outside the scope of the military-material embargo then in force. The transaction became public in 2013 and prompted parliamentary questions.

Effect of the proposed War Materiel Act revision

Under the new Article 22b, the Federal Council could depart from all the licensing criteria in Article 22a under vaguely defined ‘exceptional circumstances’. The public would not have to be informed. The Federal Council could add North Korea to Annex 2 by amending the War Materiel Ordinance. This would remove the exclusion criterion based on participation in an armed conflict and make approval the rule. The Federal Council could refuse a licence only in exceptional cases. Article 18 paragraph 1 would abolish non-re-export declarations in the vast majority of cases. Weapons for North Korea could thus easily be supplied through a subsidiary or intermediary in a third country.

Countries

North Korea

Time period

Approval in 2011; export in 2012; became known in 2013

Sources

RSI, 07.04.2013: Fucili svizzeri a Pyongyang
Nationalrat, Fragestunde 23.09.2013, Frage 13.5401: Schweizer Waffen für Nordkorea (Tagesordnung)
St. Galler Tagblatt, 18.02.2016, S. 2hb: Das Risiko eines Missbrauchs ist zu gross (Tobias Gafafer)