A used car salesman and an antique dealer were arrested Thursday on suspicion of violating trade sanctions by exporting luxury cars to North Korea.
Hideaki Abe, 54, and Kiyoshi Komatsu, 61, allegedly exported three Mercedes-Benz vehicles and a BMW between May and June 2009 from Kobe to North Korea through Dalian, China, according to the Hyogo Prefectural Police.
The cars are believed to have been used mainly by family members of senior North Korean officials, the police said.
Japan banned exports of luxury goods to North Korea in 2006 and imposed a total trade ban in June 2009 as part of economic sanctions for Pyongyang's missile and nuclear tests and slow progress in resolving the abduction issue.
Ceramics traders busted
Five people have been arrested for exporting ceramic tiles and other goods to North Korea in 2009 and 2010, despite the government's ban on such shipments.
The five are suspected of illegally shipping ¥4.9 million worth of ceramic tiles in December 2009 and around 56,000 items of chinaware worth ¥1.2 million in May 2010 from the port of Nagoya, via a broker in Dalian, China.
Police on Wednesday arrested 62-year-old Song Gwang Sun, a North Korean residing permanently in Japan who heads the KJ Co. trading firm in Nagoya. They also detained Song's wife and son, both of whom work at KJ, Masaru Ozawa, 68, chairman of a tile manufacturer in Gifu Prefecture, and Hirohisa Mizuno, 53, who operates a tile export firm in Gifu.
Ozawa and Mizuno already have admitted to the violations, but Song, his wife and son continue to deny the allegations, claiming they only exported the ceramics to China, police said.