BEIJING: China's Ministry of Commerce released a list of goods banned for export to North Korea on Tuesday, saying the items could be used to build weapons of mass destruction.
The list of dual-use goods, or products that have both civilian and military use, comes after the United Nations nuclear watchdog said North Korea appeared to have reopened a plant to produce plutonium from spent fuel of a reactor central to its banned atomic weapons drive.
The ministry said in a statement on its website that the list was meant to comply with the requirements of a round of UN sanctions imposed in March in response to a North Korean nuclear test in January.
The new list adds to a much longer Chinese list of banned goods released in 2013 after the North carried out its third nuclear test that year.
Analysts said at the time the 2013 list was a positive sign that China was working to implement UN sanctions targeting the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. The new list names dozens of banned items including magnetic materials, high-strength metals, chemical fibers, and laser-welding equipment. It also lists about a dozen chemicals that could be used in producing "chemical warfare agents".
The banned goods could be used in nuclear, biological or chemical weapons development, the ministry said.
But China has declined in the past to give a full list of items banned for export to North Korea, which UN monitors have said makes it difficult to assess how strictly China is implementing sanctions.
China remains North Korea's largest trading partner and sole major ally. Chinese analysts have regularly expressed concern that North Korea could collapse in chaos if Beijing's policies become too harsh.
Reclusive North Korea rattled nerves this year by carrying out a fourth nuclear test in January and a satellite launch in February.
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