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A North Korean Scud missile
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WASHINGTON,
December 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Scud missiles, believed
to be North Korean, have been seized from a freighter intercepted by the
Spanish navy in the Arabian Sea, the United States said Tuesday,
December 10.
U.S.
investigators are inspecting the shipment, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
quoted U.S. officials as saying.
“During
a search by a multinational team, Scuds were found, believed to be from
North Korea,” said Amy Black, a State Department spokeswoman.
“We
are working with other governments on next steps. There is no final
determination of the intended destination of the shipment.”
A
senior State Department official said, on condition of anonymity, that
the destination of the shipment “may well have been Yemen” but there
was no evidence to support speculation that the missiles were headed to
Iraq.
“We
have made no final determinations as to the intended destination of the
ship,” said White House National Security Council spokesman Sean
McCormack.
Spanish
government sources said the ship was carrying 12 Scuds which were hidden
under a consignment of cement.
Spanish
Defense Minister Federico Trillo was to give a press conference on
Wednesday, December 11, to give details.
CNN,
quoting U.S. Defense Department officials, said the ship did not have a
flag of nationality but had started its voyage in North Korea.
The
vessel, named the So San, had been under surveillance by U.S.
intelligence since it left North Korea, according to the report.
CNN
quoted a Spanish official who said the navy had to fire shots to get the
freighter to stop on Monday, December 9.
U.S.
President George W. Bush has labeled North Korea as part of an “axis
of evil” with Iran and Iraq.
Washington
has long accused the Stalinist state of being the world’s top exporter
of missile technology and this latest incident is certain to further
damage relations.
Bush’s
tough stance towards Pyongyang hardened in October when North Korea
officials admitted to U.S. envoy James Kelly that they were pursuing a
nuclear program based on enriched uranium.
U.S.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is visiting the Horn of Africa to
deepen U.S. ties with Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti, which have emerged
as important allies in the U.S. war against terrorism.
Warships
and military supplies, oil and trade that flow through the Bab El-Mandeb
strait linking the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea make the poor and lawless
region of particular importance to the West.
The
vulnerability of the sea lanes was demonstrated October 6 when al-Qaeda
allegedly attacked a French tanker off Yemen.
In
2000, 17 U.S. sailors were killed in a similar attack on the USS Cole in
Aden, Yemen.
South
Korea and the United States will address the ship seizure during talks
Wednesday, officials said.
“All
pending issues between the two sides will be discussed at today’s
session,” a U.S. military official told AFP, saying the agenda had
been broadened to include the missile seizure.
The
South Korean government said Wednesday it had no immediate comment on
the ship issue.
President
Kim Dae-Jung of South Korea had no immediate comment on the reports
which apparently took his administration by surprise.
“It
is up to the foreign ministry to comment,” said his spokeswoman Park
Sun-Sook.
A
spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said: “We are still trying to get
full information concerning the alleged seizure. We will make a
statement later.”
The
United States tipped off Japan about the scud missiles ship, reports
said Wednesday.
But
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi avoided directly answering
whether Tokyo had been informed about the ship before its seizure by the
Spanish navy.
“We
must bring the truth of the matter to light first,” Koizumi told
reporters when asked about the seizure.
“We
have many channels of communications between Japan and the United
States.”
The
press reports said U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage
touched on the freighter when he met with Japanese leaders, including
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda and Foreign Minister Yoriko
Kawaguchi.
“A
ship, possibly carrying missiles, has left North Korea and is headed for
the Middle East,” a government source quoted Armitage as telling the
Japanese leaders Monday, according to the Jiji news agency.
The
Kyodo news agency, quoting government sources, reported that Armitage
told Fukuda and Kawaguchi that Washington was tracking the suspected
missile-smuggling ship chiefly based on satellite information.
Fukuda,
Japan’s top government spokesman, denied he had discussed the ship
with Armitage.
Washington
has in the past imposed sanctions on North Korea after it supplied Yemen
with Scud missiles in 1999-2000, in a deal which Yemen vigorously
defended at the time, reported the BBC News Online.
Although
Yemen was accused by the U.S. of "harboring terrorists" in the
wake of the 11 September attacks on America, its government has
co-operated in the war against terror.
As
the U.S. military build-up against Iraq continues, the last thing the
Pentagon needs is shiploads of ballistic missiles steaming into the
Gulf's troubled waters.
