FOX NEWS REPORTS:
The U.S. military is tracking a flagged North Korean ship suspected of proliferating weapons material in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution passed last Friday, FOX News has learned.
The ship, Kang Nam, left a port in North Korea Wednesday and could be carrying weaponry, missile parts or nuclear materials. The U.S. military has been tracking it since its departure.
“It is believed to be ‘of interest,'” a senior U.S. official told FOX News.
This is the first suspected “proliferator” that the U.S. and its allies have tracked from North Korea since the United Nations authorized the world’s navies to enforce compliance with a variety of U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing North Korea for its recent nuclear test.
The apparent violation raises the question of how the United States and its allies will respond, particularly since the U.N. resolution does not have a lot of teeth to it.
The resolution would not allow the United States to forcibly board the ship. Rather, U.S. military would have to request permission to board — a request North Korea is unlikely to grant.
North Korea has said that any attempt to board its ships would be viewed as an act of war and promised “100- or 1,000-fold” retaliation if provoked.
If there is cause to pursue the ship, sources told FOX News the U.S. military would instead likely follow the slow-moving vessel until it goes into port to refuel.
At that point, sources said, the U.S. military could request that the host country not provide fuel to the ship.
The Kang Nam is known to be a ship that has been involved in proliferation activities in the past — it is “a repeat offender,” according to one military source.
(FOX)
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6 Responses
I’m sure obama will give a very strong response… He’ll say, – uhhh, we’re, uhhh, we’re concerned. — WOW, that’ll scare the north koreans wont it?!?
I thought kim jong mentally ill would be a perfect person after obama became president and apologized to the world for mean bad america.
#1
Well said.
President Obama said that the United States was prepared to respond to the threat with “the strongest possible adjectives.”
Mr. Obama said that North Korea should fear the “full force and might of the United States’ arsenal of adjectives” and called the missile test “reckless, reprehensible, objectionable, senseless, egregious and condemnable.”
Defense Secretary Robert Gates called the North Korean nuclear test “supercilious and jejune,” leading some in diplomatic circles to worry that the U.S. might be running out of appropriate adjectives with which to craft its response.
But President Obama attempted to calm those fears, saying that the United States was prepared to “scour the thesaurus” to come up with additional adjectives and was “prepared to use adverbs” if necessary.
“Let’s be clear: we are not taking adverbs off the table,” Mr. Obama said. “If the need arises, we will use them forcefully, aggressively, swiftly, overwhelmingly and commandingly.”
[From an article written by Andy Borowitz]
There are no “nukes” on the ship.
And #1 and #3, don’t be silly.
#1, very good impersonation.