Cyprus oranges for pariah state

In an embarrassing mistake the ministry of agriculture has reportedly sought to export citrus fruits to pariah state North Korea instead of South Korea.

According to the daily Phileleftheros, an agriculture ministry department, following a request by the association of producers and exporters of citrus and grapes to establish contacts in South Korea and Japan for possible exports, prepared a letter enquiring about trade protocols.

But the letter the Cypriot ministry department sent last month, was addressed to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – DPRK – (North Korea) the daily said, instead of the Republic of Korea (South Korea).

North Korea is under a number of sanctions by the EU since 2006 after carrying out nuclear tests and launching ballistic missiles. These concern prohibitions on the export and import of arms.

In March 2016, the European Council adopted additional restrictive measures against the DPRK, following another nuclear test  including, in the trade sector, a ban on any public financial support for trade with the DPRK.

 

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