Singaporean who sold coffee, strawberry milk to North Korea was imprisoned

Following earlier sanctions-breaking trades from the city-state, including sending wine, liquor, and perfume to Pyongyang, a Singaporean man was sentenced to prison for selling roughly $1 million worth of strawberry milk and coffee to North Korea.

Due to its nuclear and ballistic missile tests, North Korea has been subjected to a flurry of sanctions, including those from the United Nations. In 2017, Singapore cut off its trade relations with North Korea.

After entering a guilty plea, Phua Sze Hee, 59, a former manager at the beverage company Pokka International, was given a five-week jail term on Monday.

He sold coffee drinks and strawberry-flavoured milk to multiple Singaporean businesses between 2017 and 2018, knowing they would be shipped to North Korea and sold there.

Despite not receiving any compensation from the sales, he was nevertheless able to reach his monthly sales goals, according to court records.

In 2014, a client introduced Phua to "one Mr Kim, who was serving as an ambassador in the North Korean Embassy in Singapore," according to the records. Phua was subsequently introduced to another employee of the embassy.

Pokka didn't reply to AFP right away.

Despite the fact that the soft drinks were intended for North Korea, the country's leader Kim Jong-Un is known to enjoy alcohol, and Kim Jong-father Il's is said to have spent more than $700,000 annually importing Hennessy cognac.

A fine of up to SG $100,000 ($74,000) or three times the value of the exported commodities, up to two years in prison, or both may be imposed as the maximum penalty for exporting items from Singapore to North Korea.

In recent years, there have been multiple instances of businesses and individuals from Singapore, a major financial and trading hub, being charged with sending restricted products to the North.

Earlier this year, two Singaporean businesses were accused of sending wine, whisky, and other alcoholic beverages to North Korea.

In 2019, a court in the city-state sentenced the director of a Singaporean trade company to nearly three years in prison for selling North Korean luxury goods worth $4.4 million, including whiskey and perfume.

A shipping company in the city was penalised in 2016 for its involvement in an effort to transfer fighter planes and weaponry from the Soviet era into North Korea.