Missile parts found on North Korean ship are claimed by Cuba

Missile parts found on North Korean ship are claimed by Cuba
Cuba says the ship detained by Panama carried 'obsolete defensive
armaments' going to North Korea for repair.
By Richard Fausset
July 16, 2013, 10:04 p.m.

MEXICO CITY— Cuba announced Tuesday that the missile parts the
Panamanian government found hidden in a North Korean cargo ship heading
home were part of a stash of aging military equipment in need of repair.

Cuba's Exterior Relations Ministry said the North Korean ship contained
240 metric tons, or about 529,000 pounds, of "obsolete defensive
armaments" that were being sent to North Korea to be repaired and
returned to Cuba; it said it also carried about 10,000 tons of sugar.

Among the armaments, the ministry statement said, were two antiaircraft
missile systems, nine missiles "in parts and pieces," two MIG-21s and 15
engines for such planes.

"The agreements signed by Cuba in this area are based on the need to
maintain our defense capability to protect national sovereignty," the
statement said. "The Republic of Cuba reiterates its firm and
irrevocable commitment to peace, disarmament, including nuclear
disarmament, and respect for international law."

It was unclear Tuesday night whether the shipment of the war materiel
constitutes a violation of the United Nations Security Council
resolutions that have targeted North Korea for continuing to develop its
nuclear weapons program. Resolution 1718, passed in 2006, prohibits,
among other things, the solicitation of "services or assistance" from
North Korea for a range of military items, including missile systems and
combat aircraft.

Cuba's announcement came less than 24 hours after Panamanian President
Ricardo Martinelli said that parts of a missile system had been
discovered hidden on the North Korean vessel. The discovery was made
five days after the ship, the Chong Chon Gang, was detained at Colon, on
Panama's Caribbean coast, before it could pass through the Panama Canal
and return to North Korea. Panamanian officials originally suspected the
vessel was smuggling drugs.

Martinelli said the weapons were undeclared. He and other officials said
the North Korean crew was uncooperative with Panamanian investigators
and that the ship's captain attempted to commit suicide.

Whether international law was, in fact, respected, probably will be a
matter for the United Nations. Before the Cubans declared ownership of
the discovered items, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said
that a report probably would be sent to the U.N.'s sanctions committee.

"If indeed there were a shipment of arms on board this vessel, any
shipment of arms or related material would violate U.N. Security
Resolutions 1718, 1874 and 2094," he said, referring to the resolutions
targeting the North Korean government.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), in a statement, called the
incident "yet another example of why we need to treat Cuba as the
international pariah that it is."

The discovery may also end up illustrating the desperation of a defiant
communist government in Pyongyang that is increasingly isolated on the
world stage, and hoping to at least bolster its relationship with
ideological soul mates in Cuba. The two nations have shared diplomatic
relations since 1960.

In late June, a North Korean military delegation headed by Gen. Kim Kyok
Sik visited top Cuban military officials in Havana. The visit came four
months after the U.N. Security Council responded to a North Korean
nuclear test by tightening sanctions, which also prohibit the import or
export of conventional weapons and items that could be used by North
Korea to develop nuclear weapons.

The visit also came as Myanmar, also known as Burma, an important North
Korean ally, appears to be giving its old friend the cold shoulder. In
November 2012, Myanmar's government agreed to abide by a U.N. resolution
prohibiting the procurement of military goods and assistance from North
Korea.

"They've got a very short list of allies with whom they can trade
militarily," said Hugh Griffiths of the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute.

Griffiths said the ship probably got the attention of U.S. intelligence
upon its arrival in a part of the Western Hemisphere that it rarely
visits. In 2010, officials in Ukraine found drugs and small-arms
ammunition aboard the ship, he said.

Ventrell said that the Chong Chon Gang had a "public record of narcotics
smuggling."

Steve Atkiss of Command Consulting Group, a Washington-based company
that advises the Panamanian government, said crew members dropped anchor
to prevent being taken to shore and broke the onboard crane that could
have helped unload the massive supply of Cuban sugar.

Panamanian officials, who before the Cuban announcement thought more
contraband might be aboard, said it would take days to unload all of the
sugar and conduct a thorough search.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed Foreign Ministry
official as saying, "We need to verify the facts first, but if [the
seized items] are found to be materials for missiles, we can take
actions as they violate the U.N. resolutions."

richard.fausset@latimes.com

Times staff writers Ken Dilanian in Washington and Julie Makinen in
Beijing and Cecilia Sanchez of the Times' Mexico City bureau contributed
to this report.

Source: "Missile parts found on North Korean ship are claimed by Cuba -
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