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Source: Suspected DPRK ship changes course

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-01 10:41

WASHINGTON: US officials said Tuesday that a ship from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has turned around and is headed back toward the north where it came from, after being tracked for more than a week by American Navy vessels on suspicion of carrying illegal weapons.

The move keeps the US and the rest of the international community guessing: Where is the ship, Kang Nam, going? Does its cargo include materials banned by a new UN anti-proliferation resolution?

The Kang Nam I, a 2,035-tonne general cargo ship belonging to the DPRK, is pictured near Lantau Island in Hong Kong in this October 24, 2006 file photo. [Agencies]

The ship left a DPRK port of Nampo on June 17 and is the first vessel monitored under UN sanctions that ban the country from selling arms and nuclear-related material.

The Navy has been watching it - at times following it from a distance. It traveled south and southwest for more than a week; then, on Sunday, it turned around and headed back north, two US officials said on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence.

Nearly two weeks after the ship left the DPRK, officials said Tuesday they still don't know where it is going. But it was some 250 miles south of Hong Kong on Tuesday, one official said.

Though acknowledging all along that the Kang Nam's destination was unclear, some officials said last week that it could be going to Myanmar and that it was unclear whether it could reach there without stopping in another port to refuel.

The UN resolution allows the international community to ask for permission to board and search any suspect ship on the seas. If permission for inspection is refused, authorities can ask for an inspection in whichever nation where the ship pulls into port.

Related readings:  China urges caution on DPRK ship checks  Report: DPRK ship suspected of carrying missiles  Officials: US tracking suspicious ship from DPRK  Five-party dialogue 'possible' without DPRK  DPRK threatens to harm US if attacked

The DPRK has said it would consider any interception of its ships a declaration of war.

Two officials had said earlier in the day Tuesday that the Kang Nam had been moving very slowly in recent days, something that could signal it was trying to conserve fuel.

They said they didn't know what the turnaround of the ship means, nor what prompted it.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said Sunday that Washington was "following the progress of that ship very closely," but she would not say whether the US would confront the Kang Nam.

The sailing of the vessel - and efforts to track it - set up the first test of a new UN Security Council resolution that authorizes member states to inspect vessels from the DPRK. The sanctions are punishment for an underground nuclear test the DPRK carried out in May in defiance of past resolutions.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Obama administration imposed financial sanctions on a company in Iran that is accused of involvement in DPRK's missile proliferation network.

In the latest move to keep pressure on Pyongyang and its nuclear ambitions, the Treasury Department moved against Hong Kong Electronics, a company located in Kish Island, Iran. The action means that any bank accounts or other financial assets found in the United States belonging to the company must be frozen. Americans also are prohibited from doing business with the firm.