N. Korea Ship Sails Toward Sanctions Showdown

Suspected weapons vessel may be headed back home

(NEWSER) - The North Korean cargo ship being monitored by the US Navy has abruptly changed course and may be heading home, Reuters reports. The Kang Nam, believed to have been carrying arms to Burma, was being tracked under toughened UN sanctions instituted after the country's recent nuclear test. "We've no idea where it's going," said one official. "The US didn't do anything to make it turn around." More»

(NEWSER) - The new sanctions in place against Pyongyang have their first test: The US is monitoring a North Korean ship that left port today and may be carrying illegal weapons, reports Reuters. The Navy is keeping the Kang Nam in its sights in international waters as a "subject of interest." Officials wouldn't say precisely what the ship is suspected of carrying or where it's headed. More»

It was believed to be carrying missile parts to Burma

(NEWSER) - After a standoff and slow-speed chase at sea, a North Korean ship suspected of carrying missile components to Burma turned around and went home. The US Navy intercepted the ship, which has been suspected of previous illegal shipments, on May 26 somewhere south of Shanghai. In an apparent attempt to throw off investigators, the ship was registered in Belize, but that country gave American officials permission to inspect it. The North Koreans refused four times to allow the US to board, and the White House was not willing to risk a firefight by forcibly doing so, officials familiar with the incident tell the New York Times . More»

Pentagon mulls sending USS George Washington

(NEWSER) - The US is considering deploying one of the world's biggest warships to the waters off the Korean peninsula where the sinking of a South Korean warship has raised tensions with the North. The nuclear-powered USS George Washington would be deployed separately from upcoming joint US-South Korean exercises, defense officials say. Sending the colossal ship, which is 244 feet high and home to more than 6,000 crew members, would be seen by the North as an aggressive move because of its sheer size, the AP notes. More»

Afghanistan, Iran top list that domestic politics could kill anyway

(NEWSER) - As President Obama noted in his Nobel speech, it’s a scary world out there, and Kevin Whitelaw takes a look at some of the things on his foreign-policy to-do list in 2010:

• Pacify Afghanistan to some extent: Now that it’s “undeniably Obama’s war,” Whitelaw writes for NPR , he must “use those extra forces to help reverse the Taliban’s recent gains, make a visible dent in the rising violence and jump-start the training of Afghan security forces.”