North Korean Weapons Siezed in Thailand

[jimmy olsen]

Who cares if it has a negative effect, we can't let them get away with this shit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/13/AR2009121300342.html?hpid=moreheadlines

NKorean weapons seizure could affect nuke talks
SLIDESHOW

By APICHART WEERAWONG
The Associated Press
Sunday, December 13, 2009; 2:04 PM

BANGKOK -- The seizure in Thailand of some 35 tons of war weaponry from North Korea and the arrest of five foreigners charged with illegal possession of arms may prove a blow to efforts by the United States to negotiate a halt to Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, observers said Sunday.

Thai authorities, reportedly acting on a tip from their American counterparts, impounded an Ilyushin 76 transport plane, carrying explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and components for surface-to-air missiles, during a refueling stop at Bangkok's Don Muang airport Saturday. Four men from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus were detained.

Thai authorities took the action because of a United Nations resolution banning the transport of certain weapons from or to North Korea, Thailand's Foreign Ministry said.

The latest sanctions were imposed in June after the reclusive communist regime conducted a nuclear test and test-fired missiles. The sanctions were aimed at derailing North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but also banned the North's sale of any conventional arms.

The seizure came just days after President Barack Obama's special envoy made a rare three-day trip to North Korea on a mission to persuade Pyongyang to rejoin six-nation nuclear disarmament talks. Envoy Stephen Bosworth said the two sides had reached common understandings on the need to restart the talks.

"There is a possibility that the incident could have a negative effect on moves to get the North to rejoin the six-party talks and a U.S.-North Korea dialogue mood," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.

Thai Air Force spokesman Capt. Montol Suchookorn said the chartered cargo plane originated in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, and requested to land at Don Muang airport to refuel.

There were differing local media reports about the plane's destination, with some saying it was headed to Sri Lanka and others saying Pakistan.

"I cannot disclose the destination of their plane because this involves national security. The government will provide more details on this," Supisarn said.

North Korea has been widely accused of violating United Nations sanctions by selling weapons to nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said Thailand made the seizure because of the U.N. sanctions.

"Once further details have been finalized, and all the proper checks have been made we will report all details to the United Nations sanctions committee," he said.

Police Col. Supisarn Pakdinarunart said the five men detained denied the arms possession charges and were refused bail. They will appear in court Monday.

Local press reports said Thai authorities were tipped off by their American counterparts about the cargo aboard the aircraft. U.S. Embassy spokesman Michael Turner said the embassy would not comment on the incident.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said it would take several days to obtain details on the incident, which would be reported to the United Nations, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

"People should not be alarmed because the government will ensure that the investigation will be carried out transparently. The government will be able to explain the situation to foreign countries," Suthep said.

Thai authorities said the weapons were moved by trucks amid high security Saturday night from the airport to a military base in the nearby province of Nakhon Sawan.

Baek Seung-joo of the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said the seizure demonstrated a U.S. intention to continue to enforce sanctions on the North while also engaging in dialogue.

Arms sales are a key source of hard currency for the impoverished North. Baek said the North is believed to have earned hundreds of millions of dollars every year by selling missiles, missile parts and other weapons to countries like Iran, Syria and Myanmar.

In August, the United Arab Emirates seized a Bahamas-flagged cargo ship bound for Iran with a cache of banned rocket-propelled grenades and other arms from North Korea, the first seizure since sanctions against North Korea were ramped up.

---

Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul contributed to this report. 

[Neil]

Meh.  The US has absolutely no leverage over North Korea.  Why should they listen to anything that the US has to say?

[HisMajestyBOB]

The seizure in Thailand of some 35 tons of war weaponry from North Korea and the arrest of five foreigners charged with illegal possession of arms may prove a blow to efforts by the United States to negotiate a halt to Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, observers said Sunday.

Oh yeah, because everyone has high hopes for the negotiations. This time the North Koreans will do what they promise, right?


Edit: The article mentions it was a Russian plane. I wonder if the Russian government was involved, officially or unofficially? I really don't see any benefit Russia gets from supporting North Korea. The last time the Russians sent a delegation (after Hu Jintao's visit, and it was either during or right before/after the visit by the Chinese defense minister) they were completely snubbed and ignored. South Korea has far, far more to offer Russia through trade, and a rail link from the RoK through Russia to Europe would be a boon to both countries. Russia has no need to fear South Korean democracy on it's border, unlike China, since Russia is (nominally) a democracy.

Really, any Russian support for North Korean makes no sense. It's like they're stuck in Cold War mode still, blindly doing the opposite of the US just to be contrarian.

[Admiral Yi]

I think Russian transport planes are pretty common on the world market.

[Neil]

I think Russian transport planes are pretty common on the world market.

Especially in places where the Soviets are providing assistance to unstable regimes in an effort to try and play the Great Game.

[Fate]

I nominate Timmah as head of the team america, world police.

[Valmy]

The seizure in Thailand of some 35 tons of war weaponry from North Korea and the arrest of five foreigners charged with illegal possession of arms may prove a blow to efforts by the United States to negotiate a halt to Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, observers said Sunday.

Let them get nukes.  If the fucking Chinese think North Korea is such a great thing have them enjoy the wonders of seeing Japan and South Korea and others get nukes.  If they want to be a World Power time to enjoy all the fun that comes with it.

I mean we will pretend to care alot about North Korea just to keep the South Koreans happy but really...this should be China's problem.

[Savonarola]

Obama clearly isn't going to stand for this.  He wrote Kim Jong Il a personal letter.

Obama wrote letter to N. Korean leader, official

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama wrote a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that a U.S. envoy delivered, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special envoy for North Korea, delivered the letter for the North Korean leader during a three-day visit to North Korea last week, the official said.

The official declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Bosworth noted last week that, during his visit, he "communicated President Obama's view that complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is a fundamental undertaking of the six-party process ... and that the absence of progress on denuclearization is an obstacle to improving our relations."

As Obama "has made it clear, the United States is prepared to work with allies [and] partners in the region to offer ... North Korea a different future," he said.

Bosworth also said he wanted to reaffirm the goal of "fully implementing" a September 2005 joint statement issued by the nations in the six-party talks, declaring that North Korea had "committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs."

North Korea, however, has refused to return to the talks conducted by the United States, Russia, China, South Korea and Japan, insisting that it wants to talk directly with the U.S. government.

In April, Pyongyang declared the talks "dead" in anger over international criticism of its nuclear and missile tests this year.

Bosworth's visit did not result in any promise from the North Korean government to return to the six-party negotiations aimed at ending its nuclear program. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, however, last week called the meeting "quite positive."

"It does remain to be seen whether and when the North Koreans will return to the six-party talks, but the bottom line is that these were exploratory talks, not negotiations," she said.

Clinton previously said the United States was willing to meet bilaterally with North Korea but only within the framework of the six-party talks. She also has warned the United States will not normalize ties with Pyongyang or lift sanctions unless North Korea takes irreversible steps toward dismantling its nuclear program.

Some analysts said North Korea might be trying to buy time with its new outreach to the United States. Recent reports in Seoul, South Korea, have claimed North Korea is in the final stages of restoring its Yongbyon nuclear plant, which Pyongyang had begun to disable before walking away from the six-party talks.

Given the secrecy of the North, those reports could not be verified.

Analysts said North Korea also is desperate to break out of its diplomatic isolation and ease its economic pain, especially after the U.N. Security Council imposed tougher sanctions on the country in response to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests.

Send it postage due, Barack!  We've got to let the world know that we're not going to be pushed around by these tin-pot dictators any more.