Thread: What might happen with monitored North Korean ship?

This could wind up being quite an interesting story:

The U.S. Navy is tracking a North Korean ship under a new U.N. resolution that bars Pyongyang from trading in weapons, including missile parts and nuclear material.

Fox News quoted a senior U.S. military source as saying the ship appeared to be heading toward Singapore and that the navy destroyer USS John McCain was positioning itself in case it gets orders to intercept, according to a story on its website.

Singapore, a U.S. ally, said it takes "seriously the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction" and would act "appropriately" against the ship if the vessel heads to its port with a cargo of weapons. Singapore is the world's top ship refueling hub. It was unclear how long the vessel would be able to sail before it needs to refuel.

The Kang Nam is the first North Korean ship to be monitored under the new resolution, adopted this month in response to Pyongyang's May 25 nuclear test. The resolution authorized U.N. member states to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo.

North Korea has not commented on the monitoring of the ship but is likely to regard any attempt to inspect its cargo as highly provocative and a further reason to test the resolve of the international community. It has threatened a military strike if any country tries to impose any sort of naval blockade.

I'm not sure if not allowing this ship into port is considered a blockade or not, and I don't know if it's really headed to Singapore or not.

The UN resolution doesn't seem to have much of a contingency plan, though.

The resolution calls upon -- but does not order -- U.N. member states to inspect cargo to and from North Korea if there are reasonable grounds to believe it contains banned materials.

It calls upon member states to inspect vessels, with the consent of the flag state, on the high seas, if they have information the ship is carrying prohibited materials.

If the flag state refuses to give permission, it is supposed to ask the vessel to sail to a convenient port for inspection by local authorities, who should seize any banned goods and destroy them. However, the resolution does not authorize the use of force. If a North Korean ship refuses to be inspected, the only recourse is to report the refusal to the Security Council.

Oh, well, we'll see I guess.

Q+A: What might happen with monitored North Korean ship? | Reuters

Then let Singapore deal with it. We have no business monitoring NK or any other country's ships in that region of the world!

Originally Posted by mjollnir

Then let Singapore deal with it. We have no business monitoring NK or any other country's ships in that region of the world!

Yea right, we have NO bussines monitoring NK ships, nuclear detonations or ICBM's headed our way.:sarcasm:

We very much have every right to tail that ship and then some. I guess you guys give a crap if some of your kin were locked up in their " reeducation " camps.

Let's hope it doesn't drift into the "pirate zone" off the coast of Somalia. I'd hate to see that shit end up on ebay.

Originally Posted by Six

Yea right, we have NO bussines monitoring NK ships, nuclear detonations or ICBM's headed our way.:sarcasm:

We very much have every right to tail that ship and then some. I guess you guys give a crap if some of your kin were locked up in their " reeducation " camps.

Dude....we have no business tracking a NK ship. We do not police the world!! if they launch a nuke (which will NEVER happen) then we will retaliate. We do not take pre-emptive action against other nations!

Now, the reason why I say it will never happen is for the same reason it never happened back in the cold war. The threat of total annihilation will keep that from happening. We have the Soviets arms race, the Cuban Missile crisis and several run ins with the Chinese and nothing happened. Same as now. No country's leader wants to have their country annihilated and they would not be able to defend a pre-emptive strike. This is a man with a little dick posturing....just like that little fuck from iran. The more press we give these schmucks and bigger their dicks feel. It is the world press and Republicans that are helping these assholes feel important!