So they seem to have at least some commercial software and hardware made by American companies. Given that the US cannot trade with NK that means either 1) the companies broke the embargo or 2) they bought through a 3rd party or 3) the software is pirated/stolen/
I'll assume #1 isn't true since it would be stupid for those companies to do that for so little money.
#2 has interesting implications about trade embargoes. Unless everyone in the world participates, it seems like all an embargo does is add complexity and middle-men to the transaction. For example, if they legally acquired the software and hardware through a Chinese or Russian reseller, then all that happened was the Chinese or Russians took a cut.
#3 interestes me because what happens there? Ok, they are using clearly stolen software, now what? Are there any consequences?
I'll assume #1 isn't true since it would be stupid for those companies to do that for so little money.
#2 has interesting implications about trade embargoes. Unless everyone in the world participates, it seems like all an embargo does is add complexity and middle-men to the transaction. For example, if they legally acquired the software and hardware through a Chinese or Russian reseller, then all that happened was the Chinese or Russians took a cut.
#3 interestes me because what happens there? Ok, they are using clearly stolen software, now what? Are there any consequences?