N. Korean Ship Reverses Course

US Navy shadows ship suspected of smuggling arms to Myanmar

(NEWSER) - A North Korean ship the US Navy has been tailing is heading to Myanmar, and is about to become the first test of new UN sanctions against the Pyongyang regime, the New York Times reports. The US Navy suspects the Kang Nam is smuggling arms, and will search it if given "reasonable grounds." North Korea says it will consider an interception an act of war. 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»

Material going through China: UN report

(NEWSER) - UN officials fear North Korea may be involved in arms deals with Syria and Burma. Pyongyang "continues actively to defy" UN sanctions, says an unpublished panel report viewed by Reuters that cites "illicit sales of arms and related materiel and luxury goods." According to the report, in 2010 France discovered a shipment of supplies used for artillery and rockets headed to Syria from North Korea; in 2007, material usable in ballistic missiles was sent from North Korea through China, bound for Syria. More»

Ban to press for Aung San Suu Kyi release

(AP) - A UN special envoy began a secret trip to Burma today to pave the way for a possible visit by Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general, that would be politically delicate because of the continuing trial of imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Human rights groups are urging Ban not to visit now, fearing that the junta could exploit his trip, but Suu Kyi's supporters want him to come while she is in court. More»

Obama orders military to stop rogue state's ships for inspection

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration will instruct the Navy to attempt to inspect North Korean ships suspected of carrying arms or nuclear technology—but it will stop short of boarding them by force. The new effort to track North Korean ships is a component of America's "vigorous enforcement" of a UN Security Council resolution in the wake of the country's most recent nuclear test. It's the most aggressive approach on North Korea taken in years, reports the New York Times. More»