North Korea:  Yemen Expects Fast Return of Scud Shipment

Yemen has announced it is expecting a North Korean ship loaded with 15 Scud ballistic missiles, which U.S. and Spanish troops had seized in a joint operation Monday, to arrive at a Yemeni port within 48 hours, Reuters reported today (see GSN, Dec. 11).

“We expect the ship to arrive anytime, within the next 48 hours.  Perhaps today or tomorrow,” a senior Yemeni official said today.

Yemen also has no plans for further ballistic missile purchases from North Korea, the official said.  “We have signed a contract with North Korea to buy this shipment in 1999 and we have no intention to purchase any other shipment,” the official added.

The United States decided to release the vessel because officials determined the missile shipment did not violate international law and because Yemen assured U.S. officials it would not “transfer these missile to anyone,” White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said yesterday (Reuters, Dec. 12).

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz called Spanish Defense Minister Federico Trillo yesterday to commend Spain on the “professionalism” of its troops during the seizure and to apologize for the way the incident played out, Agencia EFE reported.

Spanish troops could have been killed during the operation, according to the Defense Ministry, and the U.S. decision to turn over the ship’s cargo to Yemen has surprised Spanish officials (EFE/El Mundo, Dec. 12, GSN translation).  According to Gonzalo Rodriguez, the commander of the ship that intercepted the North Korean vessel, its cargo and its port of destination were “technically” illegal because it officially declared it was only carrying 2,000 tons of cement (EFE, Dec. 12, GSN translation).

While the United States had the authority to stop and search the ship, it did not have the authority to seize the vessel, Fleischer said, explaining the release.

“There is no clear authority to seize the shipment,” he said.  “The merchant vessel is being released,” he added (Ahmed Al-Haj, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Dec. 11).

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell commented further yesterday on the U.S. rationale for releasing the ship after dramatically stopping and capturing it.

“After a flurry of phone calls,” Powell said, Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Salih assured the United States that the shipment had been contracted “some years ago,” that it was the last contracted shipment, that the missiles were for only defensive purposes, and that “under no circumstances would they be going anywhere else.”

“On that basis,” Powell added, “and also in acknowledgement of the fact that it was on international water and it was a sale that was out in the open and consistent with international law … we directed the ship to continue to its destination” (U.S. State Department release, Dec. 11).

Proliferation Concerns

At a press briefing yesterday, State spokesman Richard Boucher denied that the decision made last month by the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization to suspend shipments of heavy fuel oil to North Korea would prompt Pyongyang to increase missile exports (see GSN, Nov 15).  KEDO, which oversees energy assistance in exchange for a freeze on any North Korean nuclear programs, suspended the shipments over suspicions that Pyongyang has recently engaged in efforts to build nuclear weapons (see related GSN story, today).

“I don’t see any cause and effect,” Boucher said.  “I think that would be the ultimate in sophistry to claim ... that we pushed them into selling missiles by not giving them fuel because they were spending their money on nuclear programs.  It just doesn’t make sense to me,” he added (U.S. State Department release II, Dec. 11).

The U.S. inability to prevent the North Korean Scud transfer to Yemen demonstrates a need to improve international regimes against missile proliferation, Fleischer said yesterday.  Neither North Korea nor Yemen subscribes to either of the two main international missile nonproliferation agreements — the Missile Technology Control Regime and the Hague Code of Conduct (see GSN, Nov. 26).

“One thing that this does underscore is the need to take a look (at) — and we will do so with friends and others around the world — whether or not the international regimes that deal with missile proliferation need a second look,” Fleischer said (Hendren/Efron, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 12).

Japanese Response

Japan said today that it might halt economic aid to Yemen as a form of protest over the North Korean Scud shipment.  Japanese aid to Yemen totaled $21 million in March 2001, according to Agence France-Presse.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry is preparing to issue to Yemen “what may be something close to a protest” over the shipment, said Yasuo Fukuda, the top spokesman for the Japanese government.  “I don’t know what it contains or how it will be expressed,” but Japan’s aid to Yemen “may be taken into account,” Fukuda added (Agence France-Presse, Dec. 12).

For further information, see:

International Code of Conduct (Dutch Foreign Ministry)

Missile Technology Control Regime (U.S. State Department)

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Bulgaria:  Romanian Company Agrees to Destroy Missile Fuel

A Romanian nonproliferation agency announced Tuesday that the SC Nitramonia SA Fagaras company has agreed to destroy 500 metric tons of Bulgarian nitric acid missile fuel (see GSN, Oct. 31).  The transit of the fuel into Romania will be conducted according to regulations on the import and export of strategic products, the National Agency for Controlling the Strategic Transport and for Banning Nuclear Weapons said (Rompres, Dec. 10 in FBIS-EEU, Dec. 10).

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North Korea:  U.S., Spanish Forces Seize Scud Shipment

The United States and Spain seized a North Korean ship traveling to Yemen early Monday loaded with a dozen or more disassembled Scud ballistic missiles.  Following Yemeni protests today, however, it appeared that the United States would probably allow the ship to continue its journey, U.S. officials said (Trotta/Sudam, Reuters, Dec. 11).

The U.S. Navy and intelligence satellites have monitored the ship, the So San, since it left port last month, U.S. officials said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 2).  U.S. and Spanish troops boarded the ship in international waters 600 miles southeast of Yemen, a U.S. official said.  The ship tried to evade capture, resulting in a hostile boarding action by Spanish special forces, according to the Washington Post (Ricks/Slevin, Washington Post, Dec. 11).

U.S. Defense Department officials said that Spanish warships had the right to stop the North Korean ship because it was not flying a flag and had its official markings obscured by paint.

“It appeared as a lawless, stateless vessel,” a Pentagon official said (Shanker/Neilan, New York Times, Dec. 11).

The decision to seize the ship was approved “at the highest levels of the administration,” a U.S. official said.

After searching the ship, the United States questioned its legal status, officials said.  For example, the original name of the ship had been painted over and its registry papers were not in order, they said (Ricks/Slevin, Washington Post).

“It is a Cambodian vessel improperly registered.  It had a name of So San, and it was painted over the original name.  There was also paint over its ID number,” a Bush administration official said.

The crew on the ship appeared to be North Korean, and when the ship refused the Spanish request to stop, it signaled to Pyongyang, the official said (Bill Gertz, Washington Times, Dec. 11).

Spanish troops found the Scud parts when they opened containers that were partially hidden by sacks of cement, at which point they called in U.S military explosives experts, the Washington Post reported (Ricks/Slevin, Washington Post).  The ship also carried containers of a chemical called inhibited red fuming nitric acid, which is used as an oxidizer in Scud missile fuel (Gertz, Washington Times).

Yemen apparently had purchased the missile components to help upgrade the small number of Scuds it already possesses, a U.S. intelligence official said.  In recent months, however, Yemeni officials have repeatedly pledged that they would not purchase missiles or missile components, an official said.

“We keep catching them with their hand in the cookie jar,” the official added (Ricks/Slevin, Washington Post).

Yemen today said the Scuds were meant for its army and issued a formal protest over the seizure of the ship, according to the official Yemeni news agency Saba.

“The shipment is part of contracts signed some time ago,” Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi said.  “It belongs to the Yemeni government and its army and meant for defensive purposes,” he added.

Al-Qirbi has summoned the U.S. ambassador to the capital of Sanaa to lodge a formal protest over the seizure, Saba said.

The ship has been transferred to the United States and is now traveling to Diego Garcia, a U.S. base in the Indian Ocean, Spanish Defense Minister Federico Trillo said (Shanker/Neilan, New York Times).  According to Reuters, however, Yemen announced today that the United States has agreed to release the ship and its cargo.

Officials will give the missiles on the ship to Yemen if it purchased them from North Korea, a U.S. defense official said.

“Right now, the ship is carrying ‘undeclared cargo,’” the official said.  “But if they (the missiles) become legal cargo, there is not much we can do.  Weapons sales between two countries are not against the law.  Only Iraq is forbidden (under U.N. sanctions) to buy weapons,” the official added (Trotta/Sudam, Reuters, Dec. 11).

U.S. Response

The United States had expected the seizure of the ship and its cargo of components for 15 Scud missiles, and the action will have little impact on U.S. policy toward North Korea, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said.

“Obviously, this was expected by American authorities for some time,” he said during a press conference in Beijing today.  “I don’t think there’s any change (in U.S. policy),” he added.

The shipment helps prove that North Korea is still a top missile proliferator, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.

“They continue to be the single largest proliferator of ballistic missile technology on the face of the Earth, and they are putting into the hands of many countries the technologies and capabilities which have the potential for killing hundreds of thousands of people,” he said (NBC News/MSNBC, Dec. 11).

South Korea

South Korea has said it would continue to closely consult with the United States regarding the missile shipment.

“The government will enter close consultations with the United States,” a senior South Korean Foreign Ministry official said.  “The United States has a position that it will closely cooperate with its allies before deciding on next steps,” the official added.

Some South Korean experts questioned whether the seizure was legal.

“I don’t understand on what legal grounds the United States has seized the ship,” Chung In-seop, a professor of international law at Seoul National University said, noting that North Korea has not joined the Missile Technology Control Regime, which regulates missile exports.  “The burden of proof rests with the United States to show that the ship was headed for a destination like Iraq or other regions like Somalia engulfed in armed conflicts,” he added (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo.com, Dec. 11).

For further information, see:

Missile Technology Control Regime (U.S. State Department)

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Iran:  Tehran Tests North Korean Missile Engine

Iran has begun conducting engine tests of a North Korean-made Taepodong 1 medium-range ballistic missile that it obtained more than two years ago, Periscope Daily Defense News Capsules reported last week (see GSN, Oct. 23).  The purpose of the tests is to help Iran build its own version of the missile or a variant, Western intelligence sources said (Middle East Newsline/Periscope Daily Defense News, Dec. 4).

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