United Nations North Korean Computer Shipment Under Investigation

The United Nations Security Council and HP are investigating how HP computers and servers managed to get into the country of North Korea, despite extremely high-profile restrictions on electronics exports into the communist dictatorship. The UN has enforced a sanction against shipping any such materials to North Korea, and HP also has a corporate policy that prohibits any of its equipment from going into the country's borders.

Yet somehow, some way, an agency within the UN shipped over a whole bunch of equipment, in what experts are saying was an egregious and likely shady move. HP said in a statement to Fox News, "HP is thoroughly investigating the matter. Compliance with U.S. and international trade laws is a high priority for HP. HP investigates any credible breaches of contractual obligations by our partners and resellers." But HP is really the small potatoes of this story. The real question is how someone at the UN broke the organization's own sanctions without getting caught.

There is some question as to whether the UN agents who fulfilled the shipment were just incompetent or if there is something more sinister afoot. Knowing North Korea, though, the latter is what should be expected. There is growing tension between the country and the UN, since former leader Kim Jong Il died and was replaced by his son Kim Jong Un. The country is growing increasingly against the sanctions of the Security Council, and this episode with HP computer equipment is just one part of a potentially much more dangerous puzzle.

[via Fox News]