神祕商業網絡幫助朝鮮應對制裁

North Korea has embarked on a series of commercial ventures with a multibillion-dollar business network that stretches from Hong Kong to Angola as it battles to survive international sanctions, according to foreign officials and court documents.

據法庭文件和外國官員透露，朝鮮已啓動一系列商業項目以求挺過國際制裁，在此過程中依靠一個數十億美元的商業網絡，該網絡的觸角從香港一直延伸至安哥拉。

Several of the projects, which involve industries ranging from taxis to oil exploration, have the same stylised logo: the letters KKG. It is not clear whether KKG is merely a brand or a large North Korean state-owned enterprise, as claimed by the Chinese supplier of its taxi fleet.

從出租車到石油勘探，涉及多個行業的數個項目都帶有風格相同的三個字母的標識：“KKG”。尚不清楚KKG只是一個品牌，抑或如其出租車隊的中國供應商所稱，是朝鮮的一家大型國有企業。

But US and Asian officials say it is an important part of Pyongyang’s web of business interests, backed by a shadowy arm of Kim Jong Un’s totalitarian regime called Office 39. The US and EU have singled out Office 39 and its front companies, which lead the regime’s efforts to generate much-needed foreign currency, for sanctions designed to curb North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme and squeeze the government’s finances.

但美國和亞洲官員表示，它是平壤政權商業利益網絡的重要組成部分，其後臺是金正恩(Kim Jong Un)極權政府的一個神祕機構——39號辦公室(Office 39)。美國和歐盟在旨在遏制朝鮮核武計劃、擠壓該國財政的制裁中，專門挑出39號辦公室及其前臺公司（這些公司負責爲平壤政權獲取亟需的外匯）作爲打擊對象。

With prices falling for the commodities North Korea exports to China and the nation’s isolation deepening as Mr Kim perpetuates his father’s brutal rule, Office 39’s activities will be more crucial to the regime’s survival.

隨着朝鮮向中國出口的大宗商品價格下降，隨着金正恩延續父親的殘暴統治加深該國的孤立，39號辦公室的活動對於政權的生存將更爲至關重要。

According to the foreign officials and court documents from Hong Kong, another of KKG’s backers alongside Office 39 is a business network known as the Queensway Group. US researchers came up with the name after tracing many of its key companies to an address in Hong Kong’s financial district.

據香港的法庭文件和外國官員透露，除了39號辦公室以外，KKG的另一個後臺是被稱爲“金鐘道集團”(Queensway Group)的商業網絡。美國研究人員提出這個名字，是因爲他們發現該網絡的很多關鍵公司可被追蹤至香港金融區的一個地址。

Queensway companies have ridden the wave of outbound Chinese investment over the past decade. They have secured a stake in an Angolan oilfield, operated by BP, diamond interests in Zimbabwe and real estate from Manhattan to Singapore.

金鐘道集團旗下的公司在過去10年藉助中國對外投資的熱潮大展身手。它們獲得了安哥拉一個油田的一部分股份（該油田的作業方是英國石油(BP)），在津巴布韋擁有鑽石權益，在從曼哈頓到新加坡的多個地方擁有房地產。

Senior Queensway figures — led by Sam Pa, a Chinese tycoon with ties to Beijing’s intelligence services — have links to top business people, the Communist Party and state-owned companies, an FT investigation last year found.

英國《金融時報》去年的一項調查發現，金鐘道集團的高層人物——爲首的是徐京華(Sam Pa)，他是中國的一個富豪，與北京方面的情報機構有聯繫——與商界高層人士、共產黨和國有企業有關係。

The Queensway Group’s foray into North Korea dates back as far as 2006. Court documents show payments by Queensway companies related to a project called KKG Avenue, a plan for a pair of skyscrapers in Pyongyang. The KKG logo has since appeared on buses, 4x4s and, last year, on a new fleet of taxis in North Korea’s capital.

金鐘道集團與朝鮮打交道可以追溯到2006年。法庭文件顯示，該集團旗下公司所作的一些支付涉及“KKG大道”(KKG Avenue)項目，那是一個在平壤建設一對摩天大樓的計劃。隨後KKG標識就出現在朝鮮的公交車、4驅車上，去年起還出現在朝鮮首都的新款出租車上。

China Sonangol, a joint venture between key Queensway Group figures and the Angolan state oil company, has repeatedly tried to look for oil in North Korea, so far without success, according to the foreign officials, industry insiders and experts.

據外國官員、業內人士和專家介紹，金鐘道集團關鍵人物與安哥拉國家石油公司合資成立的安中石油(China Sonangol)，已多次嘗試在朝鮮境內勘探石油，但至今沒有成功。

Jee Kin Wee, group head of legal at China Sonangol’s arm in Singapore — one of several linked companies — said his unit and KKG were “separate and unrelated”. Other Queensway companies did not respond to requests for comment.

常駐安中石油新加坡分支機構的集團法律部主管Jee Kin Wee表示，他所在的業務部門與KKG是“分開和無關聯的”。該分支機構是多家相互關聯的企業中的一家。金鐘道集團的其他企業沒有回覆記者的置評請求。