Update: It's unclear, even to the Jane's author, how many subs were actually sold. I'm working on cutting through the conflicting stories.

So we've been looking at the intrigue shrouding the Toen Trading Company and its 1994 sale of 12 submarines to North Korea. Ostensibly the idea was that the Communists would melt them into scrap, and make money selling them to China, where there was a construction boom. But this month Jane's Defence reported that Kim's newest WMD missile systems are benefitting from the tube technology that someone conveniently forgot to remove from the Soviet subs.

Why was a four-person version of Trader Joe's, normally known for selling ginseng, snacks, and tea, suddenly brokering the sale of missile subs to the North Koreans?

We've seen how a Defense Department analyst has described the sale: as part of Reverend Moon's ongoing business amibitions in North Korea, when Moon's devoted sidekick Col. Bo Hi Pak was bargaining with the reclusive Kingdom of Kim for real estate, factory deals, and multi-million dollar birthday checks.

And now there's a new nugget of information in the 1994 Asahi Shinbun piece (read it here): all four employees of Toen were current Unification Church members. They all married in Moon's enormous Blessing ceremonies. Now Toen's profile looks more and more like that of other Moon trading companies, answering to Moon and instructed to disavow connections with the church.

The article also says Toen broke the law when, having registered with the Japanese government as a health food company, it privately entered the business of pre-owned military hardware. (This post has been edited)

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