Japanese police are investigating a Japanese trading company that allegedly exported to North Korea parts that can be used to produce a missile.

The Sankei Shimbun said Thursday that police at Kanagawa Prefecture are questioning the trading firm that recently engaged in a related business transaction with the North.

The trading firm is suspected of illegally exporting to North Korea via a third country parts that can be used for missile production.

Sankei added that inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency found Japanese vacuum pumps when they were inspecting a North Korean nuclear facility in 2007.