http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/world/asia/22korea.html?_r=1&hp U.S. Destroyer Shadows North Korean Ship By CHOE SANG-HUN Published: June 21, 2009 SEOUL â A North Korean cargo ship shadowed by a United States Navy destroyer was reportedly steaming toward Myanmar on Sunday, posing what could be the first test of how far the United States and its allies will go under a new United Nations resolution to stop the Northâs military shipments. The United States began tracking the 2,000-ton freighter Kang Nam after it left Nampo, a port near Pyongyang, North Korea, on Wednesday. Pentagon officials have said they suspect the ship of carrying prohibited materials, but have declined to say where it may be headed. North Korea has said it would consider interception an âact of warâ and act accordingly. Over the weekend, the Northâs state-run news media vowed to ârespond to sanctions with retaliation.â It also threatened âunlimited retaliatory strikesâ against South Korea if it cooperated with the United Nations Security Council sanctions. A South Korean cable news channel, YTN, quoted an unidentified intelligence source on Sunday as saying that American authorities suspected the ship of carrying missiles or related parts. The network also said the Kang Nam was headed for Myanmar, a country long suspected of buying North Korean arms and providing transit services for North Korean vessels engaged in illicit trade. The Kang Nam is the first North Korean vessel to be tracked under the resolution adopted by the United Nations Security Council on June 12 to punish North Korea for its May 25 nuclear test. The resolution bans North Korean trafficking in a wide range of nuclear and conventional weaponry, and calls upon United Nations members to search North Korean ships, with their consent, if there are âreasonable groundsâ to suspect that banned cargo is aboard. If the crew does not accept inspection on high seas, North Korea is required to direct the vessel to a port for inspection by local authorities there. If the ship is heading to Myanmar, another nation defying international weapons sanctions, a port there would be unlikely to comply with the United Nations request. Shortly after North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, the Kang Nam was detained in Hong Kong following a Security Council resolution banning trade in nuclear and ballistic missile technology. But then the ship was found to be carrying no cargo. The potential high-seas confrontation over the Kang Nam came as United States defense officials planned to travel to South Korea, Japan and China this week to discuss how to enforce the sanctions. Last week, Washington urged banks to become more vigilant against financial transactions involving North Korea. It also said it has deployed a floating radar base near Hawaii to guard against a long-range North Korean missile. The Northâs hostility toward the outside world was also driving the country deeper into isolation. According to a report released Sunday by South Koreaâs customs authorities, trade between the two Koreas plunged 38 percent from a year earlier to $106 million in May. It marked the ninth straight monthly decline in inter-Korean trade.
Report: NKorea ship suspected of carrying missiles By HYUNG-JIN KIM - Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea -- A U.S. Navy destroyer is tailing a North Korean ship suspected of carrying illicit weapons toward Myanmar in what could be the first test of new U.N. sanctions against the North over its recent nuclear test, a leading TV network said Sunday. The South Korean news network YTN, citing an unidentified intelligence source in the South, said the U.S. suspects the cargo ship Kang Nam is carrying missiles and related parts. Myanmar's military government, which faces an arms embargo from the United States and the European Union, has reportedly bought weapons from North Korea. YTN said the U.S. has deployed a destroyer and is using satellites to track the ship, which was expected to travel to Myanmar via Singapore.... http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/837833.html
Where do you find all these articles? Dude, you need to get out on the golf course. Hit the 19th hole hard You post some interesting stuff but I'm gonna need a prozac to cheer me up
I hate golf. I was out on the boat earlier today and had a few cold ones with a couple of friends, but I'm still in a bad mood. I don't like what I see in the real world. Things have changed for the far worse.
Obama is taking a much harder stance with N.Korea then Bush and Clinton did.I'm starting to worry how this will turn out.Kim doesn't want a war with the US,But he wants to push the US as far as he can without a military response.He might accidentally push to far.
Revolt in Iran, military situations of the high seas with N. Korea. Scylla and Charybdis. Obama is in a very tough spot. We cannot show weakness to either of these foes as it will certainly embolden them. If we board that ship, N. Korea may strike S. Korea. In fact, they must, or Kim Jong Il is a bitch, which makes him a dead bitch. If we get behind the rebels in Iran and Ahmadinejad crushes the rebellion, then they will act aggressively to threaten Israel, whom we are pledged to support. The clerics have already taken the side of Ahmadinejad. No way why anyone would want to b POTUS. Either way, we will almost have to come down hard on N. Korea, and hope that Kim Jong Il pulls a Kruschev and backs down. I doubt this happens. That dude is a screwball. Can we survive opening a THIRD front?
On one hand, I despise the fact that Obama knowingly has expanded the preferential treatment of the Wall Street scum that contributed greatly (along with others, who aren't getting bailed out, however) to the crisis we're in the thick of. On the other hand, yes, Kim is irrational, not much is known about his son, and no, I would not want to have to deal with the stress and number or magnitude of problems President Obama is facing.