Singapore Jails Man For Exporting Strawberry Milk, Coffee To North Korea

Singapore city: A man hailing from Singapore was jailed for selling strawberry milk and coffee to North Korea.

59-year-old Phua Sze Hee, a former manager at beverage company Pokka International, was sentenced to five weeks in jail on Monday after he pleaded guilty.

Notably, North Korea has been hit with a barrage of sanctions, including from the United Nations, over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests, while Singapore suspended trade ties with the country in 2017.

From 2017 to 2018, he sold beverages including strawberry-flavoured milk and coffee drinks to several Singapore companies, knowing that they would be exported to North Korea for sale there.

He did not earn any commission from the sales, but it allowed him to meet his monthly sales targets, court documents said.

The documents added that in 2014 a customer had introduced Phua to “one Mr Kim, who was working as an ambassador in the North Korean Embassy in Singapore” and was later introduced to another employee at the embassy.

There have been several cases in recent years of companies and individuals from Singapore, a key trading hub and financial centre, being prosecuted for supplying banned goods to the North.

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