The World : U.S. Foils Computer Deal

U.S. intelligence agents in Singapore foiled a bid by North Korea to buy hundreds of computers from Japan, the Kyodo News Service reported. The Japanese news agency quoted unidentified U.S. sources in Singapore as saying that CIA agents discovered in March that 500 computers ordered from a Japanese trading company, NEC Corp., for export to a company in Jakarta, Indonesia, were destined for North Korea. The news agency said the CIA notified Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry through diplomatic channels, and the ministry subsequently denied the trading company an export permit for the computers.