The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said that the company shipped strategic materials to Libya in June 2002 without government permission.

It exported to the Middle Eastern country four machines that could be used to balance spinning objects such as centrifuges, which themselves can be used to enrich uranium.

Trading of these machines, worth 200,000 dollars apiece, is regulated under the nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty (NPT), and the Nuclear Supplier's Group (NSG), a group of 40 countries seeking to curb nuclear weapons proliferation.

The ministry reported the company, whose name was not released, to prosecutors for a criminal investigation.

If found guilty, the company's president would face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to three times the export price and be banned from exporting strategic materials for up to one year.

NSG members would impose a three-year trade ban on the company if they are notified of the verdict.

The ministry's move came after a team of inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, notified the government in December last year of its findings about the company's illegal trade.

It is the second time that a South Korean company has been charged with exporting NSG-controlled strategic materials.

In October, the government filed a complaint against another local company. At that time, a news blackout was imposed, a government source told AFP.

The name of the firm has not been released.

"I am afraid there might be more cases involving domestic companies as the IAEA is now studying the results of its nuclear inspections of Libya, and Iran has expressed willingness to accept nuclear inspections," Commerce Minister Lee Hee-Beom was quoted as telling Yonhap news agency.

A ministry official said that awareness among South Korean firms about the sensitivity of strategic materials they have been dealing with was low as they were too eager to sell their products overseas.

"Exporting companies must be extra cautious to avoid the danger of accidentally selling strategic materials without authorization," Park Bong-Gyu, director general of the trade policy bureau of the ministry said.

WAR.WIRE