Illegal MiG exports cause tension between Kazakhstan and Japan

Published: 8/26/1999

Following a meeting of Kazakhstan's Security Council on 9 August, Nursultan Nazarbaev issued a decree dismissing the council's Chairman, Nurtai Abykaev, Defence Minister, Mukhtar Altynbaev, and an unspecified number of lower-level defence and security officials for their handling of the sale of six decommissioned MiG-21 fighter aircraft. Azerbaijani authorities impounded the fighters when the Russian transport aircraft exporting them to the Czech Republic landed in Baku (www.concise.org March 23rd, July 2nd, July 7th 1999). The fighters were subsequently returned to Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, it has been reported that, on August 13th 1999, Kazakhstan's ambassador to Japan, Tleubek Kabdrakhmanov, told the Japanese Foreign Ministry that Astana has asked North Korea to return some of the MiG-21s that it purchased from Kazakhstan at a cost of $40m. It is unclear whether North Korea has agreed to the request. On August 12th, South Korea officially complained to the Kazakh embassy in Seoul over the sale. In Astana, Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister, Kasymzhomart Tokaev, stated that Kazakhstan would issue an official statement on the sale of the MiGs to North Korea, once the criminal investigation into the transaction is completed. Kazakhstan has pledged not to sell arms to North Korea under an international convention and has made it plain that the trade was illegal. It seems however that the subject is by no means finished for the Japanese and meeting in Astana on 20 August with Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Nurlan Balghymbaev, Japanese Foreign Ministry official Keizo Takemi demanded further clarification of reports regarding the sale. Balghymbaev said the Kazakh government "had nothing to do" with the sale of the MiGs. He refused to divulge details of the ongoing investigation into the scandal. U.S. experts are participating in that investigation. Also on 20 August, Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Toqaev said that Kazakhstan did sell a consignment of some 35-40MiG-21s, some of which ended up in North Korea. But he stressed that the transaction "went out of control of the president and the government."

Article ID: 795