Sand???

A sand supplier under virtual control of the North Korean army has notified its South Korean customers that the price of sand exported to South Korea would be going up by 60 percent.

On Thursday, the Korea International Trade Association, the Korean Aggregates Association and importers of North Korean sand said that the North recently sent an unexpected notice that it would raise the price of sand next month by W900 (US$1=W937) from US$1.6 (W1,500) to 2 euros (W2,400) per cubic meter. [link]

What the …?

Update: I get regular visits at this site from certain quarters of the Treasury Department, and I assume they would share my curiosity about whether any of the following companies are involved in this sand racket:

KOREA MINING DEVELOPMENT TRADING CORPORATION (a.k.a. CHANGGWANG SINYONG CORPORATION; a.k.a. EXTERNAL TECHNOLOGY GENERAL CORPORATION; a.k.a. NORTH KOREAN MINING DEVELOPMENT TRADING CORPORATION; a.k.a. “KOMID”), Central District, Pyongyang, Korea, North [NPWMD]

KOREA RYONBONG GENERAL CORPORATION (a.k.a. KOREA YONBONG GENERAL CORPORATION; f.k.a. LYONGAKSAN GENERAL TRADING CORPORATION), Pot’onggang District, Pyongyang, Korea, North; Rakwon-dong, Pothonggang District, Pyongyang, Korea, North [NPWMD]

Those companies are all suspected of involvement in North Korea’s WMD programs, which is why they’re all listed, and their assets blocked, pursuant to Executive Order 13,382.