Proliferation Security Watch
The AP has a very detailed story on the search of a North Korean ship in the Indian Ocean, along with a nice summary of other searches in the recent past. In this case, it sounds like all they found was cement.
In other searches, Hong Kong authorities detained two North Korean cargo ships in October for safety violations apparently unrelated to the U.N. sanctions.
Myanmar permitted a North Korean cargo ship in distress to anchor at a port in early November but the country, which is also known as Burma, said it found “no suspicious material or military equipment” during an inspection of the vessel.
Indian authorities said they searched a North Korean cargo ship, the MV Omrani, that developed mechanical problems while passing through Indian waters on Oct. 29 en route to Iran. But officials would not say if the ship was detained in line with the sanctions regime.
The story also has nice summary of how other nations in the region have applied 1718.
South Korea balked this week at fully joining the U.S.-led effort to intercept North Korean ships. Seoul has joined the initiative only as an observer out of concern that its stopping and searching of North Korean ships could lead to armed clashes.
China has inspected trucks rumbling across its border with North Korea but also has resisted checks of cargo ships.
Japan has banned all North Korean vessels from Japanese ports and all imports from North Korea, as well as severely limiting travel from the country. Japan and the United States have agreed to explore ways to coordinate in inspecting North Korean vessels, but the efforts have been slow amid concern in Japan over the legality of conducting searches off its shores.
China really seems to have reverted back to its old two-faced policy of pretending to pressure the North, while doing nothing of actual consquence. Previous reports that it cut off oil shipments to the North were probably either wrong or disinformation. China even appears ready to undermine the ban on luxury goods for North Korea’s elite:
The implementation of the clause in the Oct. 14 U.N. Security Council resolution concerning the ban ”should not be allowed to impact normal trade transactions” between other countries and North Korea, Jiang Yu said at a regular press conference.
Another interesting point in that last story, regarding Chinese oil shipments. The North Koreans evidently “expect” that the United States will lift its economic sanctions on North Korea’s criminal proceeds after the next round of six-party talks. A recent press report that Treasury had found new evidence against Banco Delta may throw cold water on that expectation. As before, the talks will go nowhere.