A SINGAPORE district court has ruled that Chinpo Shipping, a firm implicated in illegal arms shipment aboard a North Korean containership, is guilty of two criminal charges, Reuters reports.

 The court is expected to hand down the sentence in late January.

 Singapore-based Chinpo Shipping Company had been charged for transferring financial assets or resources that could have been used to contribute to North Korea's weapons programmes, which are subject to UN sanctions.

 Chinpo Shipping was named by a UN report as helping arrange the shipment of Cuban fighter jets and missile parts that were bound for North Korea when they were seized in Panama in 2013.

 Chinpo was also charged with carrying out a remittance business without a licence between 2009 and 2013.

 Edmond Pereira, a lawyer representing Chinpo Shipping, described the verdict as "disappointing".