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| International | |
| Suspect nuclear-related shipment to NKorea intercepted | |
| 2003-04-27 | |
The German government has intercepted a shipment of German-made aluminium tubes probably destined for use in North Korea's nuclear programme, according to a German magazine. The weekly magazine Der Spiegel said in its issue due to be published on Monday that 22 tonnes of aluminium tubes, essential in the manufature of enriched uranium, were loaded onto a French ship in Hamburg in early April just as German federal vetoed the shipment. The German government alerted the French authorities, who ordered the ship's captain to unload the containers in Egypt. Officially the tubes were on their way to a Chinese aeronautics company, but according to Der Spiegel Berlin believes this company was a front for North Korea. The German firm's business contact was a North Korean national, it said. The paper said the head of the German company, called Optronic and which is based at Koenigsbronn in southern Germany, had been detained for questioning.
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| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #9 Can't say I'm too happy that it would be considered OK to sell these tubes to the Chinese, never mind transshipping them to NK. |
| Posted by: tbn 2003-04-28 00:37:25 |
| #8 Stabbing the Tiwanese won't happen under a Republican President. There are two things Republicans my age have never forgiven Tricky Dick for: Allowing Red China to have the Chinese seat in the UN, and getting caught covering up for "Watergate". If there were a femocrat (sic) in the White House, it wouldn't surprise me if ziphius's scenario were to be negogotiated, especially some one like Dean or Kerry. |
| Posted by: VNVet 2003-04-27 20:14:19 |
| #7 Z -- not if you're Tawainese. And definitely not for the US if it looks like we handed them over. |
| Posted by: Baba Yaga 2003-04-27 19:37:44 |
| #6 I wonder if China is playing a game where they will essentially "trade" North Korea for Taiwan. They stop propping up the NKors, causing them to implode and fall into the sphere of South Korea and by proxy the US. To reciprocate, the US stops backing Taiwan, and stands back while China "reclaims" it to their "sphere". A win-win for most? z |
| Posted by: ziphius 2003-04-27 18:31:35 |
| #5 Aluminum tubes, hmmm. Aren't those supposed to be for making rockets go farther. I mean, Saddam wouldn't lie about that, blixie told us so. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-27 18:30:21 |
| #4 Frank--I meant to say military upgrade bought with foreign exchange derived from cheap labor. Hey, I am working today and it is 60F in Alaska. Criminal to be inside today. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-04-27 16:26:05 |
| #3 Yeah, Frank, the problem with a blockade is that it will be like a bubble in a linoleum floor and the path for the goods will shift through mainland China overland to Korea. A nuke-enabled Japan and Taiwan? The threat of it may wake them up, but the economics of shaking up China I would like to try first. We are trying to get rid of nukes, not get any more. China is financing their military upgrade with cheap labor brought in with foreign exchange. But, the path to the answer to dealing with NK leads right to China. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-27 16:22:41 |
| #2 Paul, the Chinese have been enablers of NK since, oh, the late 50's? They need to understand that the cost will outweigh any benefits they get from tweaking our nose. Say, a nuke enabled Japan and Taiwan? That would keep them up at night |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-04-27 14:25:16 |
| #1 I am sure that this is the tip of the iceberg. I know that it is an act of war, but we should be thinking about a quarantine of shipping into North Korea. At least we should be looking at cargos going in before they pass into NK waters. If we can get the evidence, we should be making public Chinese complicity, Chinese front companies to show a pattern of behavior of the Chinese govt enabling the NKors. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-04-27 14:06:49 |