SINGAPORE: Fua Tse Hai, a former manager at beverage company Poca International, has been sentenced to five weeks in prison for selling nearly $1 million worth of strawberry milk and coffee to North Korea and other sanctions-busting trade from the city-state, including sending wine, whiskey and perfume to Poyang.
The action of the Singapore government comes at a time when North Korea had to face sanctions including the United Nations for its nuclear and ballistic missile tests. In 2017, Singapore suspended trade relations with North Korea.
Fua sold beverages, including strawberry flavored milk and coffee, to several Singaporean companies from 2017 to 2018, despite knowing they would be exported to North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has a penchant for booze, and reports say his father, Kim Jong Il, spent more than $700,000 a year importing Hennessy cognac.
The maximum penalty for exporting goods from Singapore to North Korea is a fine of up to $74,000 or three times the value of the exported goods, or imprisonment for up to two years, or both.
There have been several recent cases of companies and individuals from Singapore, a major trade and financial hub, being convicted of supplying contraband to North Korea.