The Knesset (Israeli parliament) Economics Committee approved the import and export order regarding the regulation of export goods to North Korea and forbidding luxury exports, as per UN Security Council Resolution 1718, adopted in 2006.
The Knesset’s Economic Affairs Committee approved the edict regulating Israeli exports to North Korea almost a decade after the sanctions were put in place. The edict aims to monitor exports from Israel to North Korea, and requires a special permit for all goods sent to the country.
Under the UN sanctions, exports of certain goods, such as luxury items, are forbidden, while others, such as food items and medical supplies, are permitted. Israeli companies have been exploiting a legal loophole to send exports, primarily gold, to North Korea despite UN sanctions on the rogue nation, a situation that was only addressed on Wednesday.
Israel’s main export to North Korea has been gold to the value of US$400,000, according to David Houry, director of exports at the Tax Authority. Houry told the Knesset panel on Wednesday that “regrettably, there were gold exports,” and that he personally had stopped some of the export attempts, which he called a “disgrace” to Israel.
“There have hardly been any exports to North Korea since 2011; what was sent included books and dental implants,” Houry said. He presented the edict for committee approval on Wednesday in order, he said, to bring Israel in line with the rest of the world.
According to the order, products banned from export to North Korea include wines, all alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, caviar, crabs and lobsters, snails, mollusks and underwater invertebrates, motor vehicles, yachts and cruise boats, perfumes and eau de toilets, cosmetics, furs, precious metals including gold and silver, jewelry, precious stones including diamonds and pearls, crystal glasses, artworks, fountain pens, clocks, carpets and rugs, leather products related to travel, fashion clothes wear, consumer electronics, photo equipment, electronic entertainment equipment and programs for electronic entertainment equipment and sports equipment.
