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12 June 2003 |
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/06/12/wkor12.xml&s |
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America met two of its allies yesterday to agree plans to confront North Korea's "secret navy" of merchant vessels, which have been covertly shipping drugs, counterfeit money, missiles and nuclear technology around the world. The United States, Australia and Japan were considering seeking a change in international law to allow suspect vessels to be boarded in international waters. The move follows growing fears that Pyongyang is continuing to export to various countries components for programmes to produce weapons of mass destruction. On Tuesday, Japan began an unheralded programme of inspections of North Korean ships in its ports. Two vessels were temporarily detained, apparently for "safety violations". North Korea denounced the move as a back-door attempt to impose sanctions, which it has said it would regard as an act of war. The Korean Central News Agency said it was "part of the Bush administration's foolish and shameful moves to ostracise [North Korea] . . . by terming it a 'rogue state'." The Stalinist regime also cancelled the only ferry service between the two countries after tough new Japanese restrictions. The service was said to have been used to smuggle missile parts to North Korea. Speaking before the allied meeting in Tokyo yesterday, Alexander Downer, Australia's foreign minister, said North Korean ships or aircraft could at present be stopped only if they passed through other nations' territorial waters or airspace. He said he wanted countries, including Britain and other European nations and particularly China, to consider changing international law to allow "interdiction" of shipping in international waters and to agree measures against trading in nuclear materials. The meeting seemed designed to turn the screw on the regime of Kim Jong-il after attempts to make North Korea give up its nuclear weapons programme reached an impasse. North Korea's use of merchant shipping for illicit purposes is well known. In April, Australian special forces boarded a North Korean ship, the Pongsu, which was found to be carrying more than 100lb of heroin. Another 165lb was found on shore nearby. More than 30 crew members are awaiting trial in Melbourne, accused of aiding and abetting the import of heroin. Seven months ago, the Americans impounded a freighter carrying Scud-type missiles from North Korea to Yemen, but had to release it when it discovered that there was nothing illegal about the shipment. According to testimony before a US Senate committee last month, since 1976 there have been at least 50 arrests and drugs seizures involving North Koreans in more than 20 countries around the world. A third of all methamphetamines discovered in Japan are thought to have come from the same source. Counterfeit money had been laundered through banks in Macao, on the south China coast, the US official told the committee. Thomas Hubbard, the US ambassador to South Korea, said yesterday the measures being considered did not amount to sanctions.
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11 May 2003 |
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2980418.stm |
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The United States, Japan and Australia are working together on ways to make it easier to stop North Korean ships suspected of carrying drugs and missile parts. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said officials from the three countries would discuss the possibility of seeking changes to international law so that North Korean vessels could be stopped on the high seas. The issue follows the seizure in April by Australian authorities of a North Korean boat, the Pong Su, found to be carrying 50 kg of heroin. The US has long complained about North Korea's selling of missile technology around the world, and last year detained a ship carrying Scud missiles to Yemen. Some members of the US administration have also argued that stopping illegal North Korean trade would deprive the impoverished state of a major source of income and hasten the regime's collapse. 'Act of war' Mr Downer was speaking a day after Japan detained two North Korean cargo ships in Japanese ports for safety checks. An Australian diplomat, Ashton Calvert, is due to meet officials in Tokyo on Wednesday to discuss the proposals. He is also due to meet US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who is also visiting Tokyo. Mr Downer stressed that the three countries were not discussing a blockade on North Korean ships. Pyongyang has warned that it would consider economic sanctions as an act of war. "First of all you have to get the countries through whose territorial waters ships might pass or across whose land planes may fly or whatever to do the interdiction themselves within their own sovereign territory," Mr Downer told ABC radio. "Secondly you are confronted with a very real difficulty in terms of vessels that might be going through the high seas because international law requires that those ships should not be intercepted," he added. Mr Downer noted there was "good international support" for discussion of changes to international maritime law, but stressed the need to include China in future talks. China is North Korea's closest ally and has been reluctant to support US policy towards North Korea. Mr Downer said a conference in Madrid on Thursday would examine in greater detail how to counter illicit and nuclear trade.
One boat that has been at the centre of suspicions about North Korean contraband is the Mangyongbong-92 - the only passenger ferry between Japan and North Korea. North Korea suspended the service this week after Japanese authorities planned to search its cargo. The North Korean official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday that the move was a "ridiculous plot... to suspend the ship under any pretext." It warned of the "serious consequences" if this meant the start of sanctions against North Korea. Mr Armitage is visiting Tokyo as part of US efforts to discuss with its regional allies Japan and South Korea how to handle the stand-off over North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Japanese media quoted US officials as saying they were hopeful North Korea would take part in a new round of talks within the next month or two. The talks were likely to include South Korea, Japan and China.
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