The Australian - Fears North Korea in Burma arms deal

The Australian - Fears North Korea in Burma arms deal
Correspondents in Seoul | June 24, 2009

A NORTH Korean ship suspected of carrying illicit weapons cruised through waters off Shanghai yesterday en route to Burma, as regional military officials and a US destroyer kept a close eye on the vessel.

Washington's top military commander in South Korea, meanwhile, warned that the communist regime is bolstering its guerilla warfare capacity.

General Walter Sharp, who commands the 28,500 US troops in South Korea, said the North could employ roadside bombs and other guerilla tactics if fighting breaks out again on the Korean peninsula. The two Koreas technically remain at war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.

North Korea is believed to have begun boosting its urban, night-time and special operation capabilities in the wake of the US-led war in Iraq, South Korea's Defence Ministry said. After the US invasion of Iraq, North Korea claimed it would be the next target.

With 1.2 million troops, North Korea's army is one of the world's largest. About 180,000 are special operation forces.

Last Wednesday, a North Korean-flagged vessel left the port of Nampo and was being trailed by a US destroyer.

It is the first ship being monitored under the UN sanctions imposed earlier this month following North Korea's defiant underground nuclear test last month.

The new resolution seeks to strengthen efforts to stop North Korea from developing its nuclear and missile programs and selling its technology.

The Kang Nam, accused of transporting illicit goods in the past, is believed to be carrying banned small arms to Burma, a South Korean intelligence official said on Monday.
However, a high-seas interception - a move North Korea has said it would consider an act of war - is unlikely.

The resolution calls on UN member states to inspect North Korean vessels if they have "reasonable grounds'' to believe that its cargo contains banned weapons or materials. But it must first get the consent of the nation whose flag the ship is flying - in this case, North Korea's.

The North is unlikely to allow any inspection of its cargo.

If Pyongyang refuses, authorities must direct the vessel to a port. UN members have been ordered not to provided suspected ships with services such as fuel.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China will "strictly observe'' and implement the resolution. He urged other nations to also heed the UN guidelines.

"Under the current circumstances, we call upon all parties to refrain from acts that might escalate the tension,'' he said yesterday.

Singapore, the world's busiest port and a top refueling center, said officials would "act appropriately'' if asked to confront a North Korean ship believed to be carrying banned cargo.

"Singapore takes seriously the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery and related materials,'' a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman said yesterday. "If the allegation is true, Singapore will act appropriately.''

The South Korean broadcaster YTN said the ship was traveling in waters 370km southeast of Shanghai at a speed of about 18.5km/h.

The Kang Nam is expected to dock at Burma's Thilawa port, 30km south of Rangoon, in the next few days, according to the Irrawaddy, an online magazine operated by independent exiled journalists from Burma, citing an unidentified port official.

North Korea is believed to have sold guns, artillery and other small weapons to Burma, said Kim Jin-moo, an analyst at Seoul's state-run Korea Institute for Defence Analyses.

An American destroyer, the USS John S. McCain, is relatively close to the North Korean vessel but had no orders to intercept it, a senior military official said last week.