Many US Firms Use North Korean Gold

WASHINGTON (Scrap Monster): Amidst America's prevailing sanctions over North Korea, a set of firms revealed last week that their suppliers use gold refined by North Korea's central bank. The suppliers are asked to submit an explanation immediately by the companies, if they had supplied the gold from N Korea.

It is said that the major companies like Packard Co., Ralph Lauren Corp., International Business Machines Corp., Rockwell Automation Corp. and Williams-Sonoma Inc. allegedly use North Korean gold in their production process.

Though America's strong sanctions exist, the raw materials are coming very indirectly through suppliers, Alexandra Lopez-Casero, an attorney at Nixon Peabody LLP said.

 It is said that the existing Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act forces the companies to quiz their suppliers and disclose by Monday if gold, tungsten, tantalum or tin used in their products shipped from mines ruled by armed gangs in the war-torn Congo region.

Last year, The United Nations Security Council approved a new regimen of sanctions against North Korea for its underground nuclear test last month in a unanimous vote that came just hours after North Korea threatened for the first time to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States and South Korea.