U.S. Tracking N. Korean Ship: Report

According to news reports on October 19 (local time) from CBS and CNN, the U.S. intelligence authorities are tracking a North Korean vessel presumably carrying “military equipment.” The tracking operation is the first one since the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution banning weapons transactions with North Korea.

Both CBS and CNN reported, “Intelligence authorities confirmed that the suspect vessel, which left a port near Pyongyang, had carried military cargo in the past. But it has yet to be verified whether the vessel does carry the ‘equipment under suspicion.’”

Observers are paying attention to whether the North Korean ship would be the first vessel to be subject to maritime inspection since the passage of UN resolution 1718.

CNN reported by quoting an intelligence official, saying, “There are no grounds for a maritime inspection at the moment. And we have no idea where the ship is heading. But once it gets where it is heading, we will press for an inspection.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. will carry out a joint maritime exercise with Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) participants along the Gulf Coast near Bahrain between October 29 and 31. The joint exercise aims to block cargo ships carrying weapons of mass destruction (WMD). On October 20, Japan’s Jiji Press quoted an American official saying that several Middle Eastern countries will joint the U.S., U.K., and France in the exercise.

Korea, too, was invited to the PSI maritime exercise by the U.S. authorities, but has yet to decide whether to participate or not, considering the danger of a potential armed clash.