In the first such move in years, the United States has
seized a shipment of Scud missiles sent by North Korea.
The missile shipment was first disclosed by The Washington Times on Dec. 2 after the vessel departed several weeks ago from the North Korean port of Nampo with the Scud missiles and their components and a missile fuel chemical.
U.S. officials said the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet
seized the Scud shipment in the Arabian Sea near Yemen in an operation
coordinated with the Spanish Navy. Spain is part of a multinational effort
to monitor Al Qaida insurgents in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea.
It was the first time the United States captured a North Korean ship
laden with missiles heading for the Middle East. North Korea is regarded as
the world's leading exporter of missiles and its main customers are such
countries as Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Yemen, Middle East Newsline reported.
"For years, we have encountered either technical or political obstacles
to such seizures," a U.S. official said. "Either we simply lost track of
these ships or didn't have permission to stop them. This time, we were able
to do both."
The official said that over the past few months the United States has
invested greater efforts in tracking North Korean missile shipments to the
Middle East. He said reconnaissance satellites as well as U.S. allies in
East Asia have been monitoring shipping from the North Korean coast.
The ship was stopped on Tuesday by two Spanish naval vessels in the
Arabian Sea
near the Horn of Africa, officials said. The U.S. Navy then boarded the ship
and continued the inspection and seized the missile cargo. The flag of the
ship was not immediately determined.
The United States has warned Yemen to end Scud missile deliveries from
North Korea. Last month, U.S. officials said Yemen obtained a delivery of
Scuds from Pyongyang in what was described as part of a series of deliveries
from a contract signed over the last year. Yemen was said to have pledged
not to renew the contract.
"As a major proliferator, the North Koreans apparently have been
caught," Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said. "It appears that
this vessel was carrying Scud missiles for delivery to some country or
another and it's been apprehended at sea in what I understand was a
perfectly legal manner. I'm sure there'll be more discussion of this in the
days to follow."
Officials said the North Korean ship was seized as part of a new policy
by the Bush administration that takes a tougher line on missile
proliferation. On Wednesday, the White House unveils a new security doctrine
that bolsters nonproliferation efforts and provides a range of options
against a weapons of mass destruction attack.
"The United States will continue to make clear that it reserves the
right to respond with overwhelming force - including through resort to all
of our options - to the use of [WMD] against the United States, our forces
abroad, and friends and allies," the White House policy report said. "We
will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes and terrorists to
threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons."
