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| China-Japan-Koreas | |||
| Nork Cargo Ship 'Approaching Moment of Truth' | |||
| 2009-06-26 | |||
The U.S. has been monitoring the 2,080-ton Kangnam with KH-12 reconnaissance satellite and P-3C patrol plane mobilized since it left Nampo Port on June 17. Since June 21, the ship has been tracked by Aegis destroyer USS John S. McCain. It will reach the South China Sea on Friday sailing through the Taiwan Straits. "Washington believes that the ship is headed for Burma via Singapore," said an intelligence officer. Whether the U.S. will board the ship to inspect it remains to be seen. If a ship with the size of the Kangnam is to navigate over 6,660 km from Nampo to Burma, it needs to refuel in Singapore or a Vietnamese port. The Pentagon said Thursday a decision has yet to be made whether to inspect the Kangnam. But government officials here said chances are that the ship will sail into a port sooner or later. If the ship is searched and illegal weapons are found, "the U.S. will achieve a diplomatic coup and will be able to tighten sanctions against the North. If not, resistance will from China and other countries will grow and international cooperation in punishing Pyongyang will falter," speculated Kim Sung-han, a professor at Korea University. There are fears the ship will dump any weapons into the sea before inspection.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #22 The One is still working on his apology speech, and making sure the teleprompter works flawlessly. |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-06-26 23:17 |
| #21 Use them on the Karen peoples to end that civil war. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-06-26 22:20 |
| #20 What would Burma do with nukes, JosephM? Act as a transload point? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-06-26 22:13 |
| #19 What would Burma do with nukes, JosephM? As far as I know they've no external trade to speak of, either legal or illegal, and they don't sponsor external terrorists. Or did I miss something interesting about the Burmese generals? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-06-26 21:55 |
| #18 OTOH, there's also the dangerous "RUSSIA" factor = scenario for Kimmie, espec as per "Big Brother" CHINA??? * ION FREEREPUBLIC > seems NOKOR allegedly may had begun helping BURMA in its own NucTechs Dev + possib procurement of WMDS??? versus PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > SRI LANKA may desireous of BECOM THE NEW "HONG KONG" OF THE INDIAN OCEAN AFTER ITS ANTI-LTTE WAR??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-06-26 19:10 |
| #17 It could run into one of those cement subs from Columbia's drug lords and like get a big hole in its hull... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-06-26 15:00 |
| #16 Im thinbking Somali pirates. Dont we have some on ice somewhere? |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2009-06-26 14:53 |
| #15 How odd. I never knew there were icebergs in the China Sea...... |
| Posted by: Pliny Chereng2619 2009-06-26 14:16 |
| #14 Dolphins. With frickin' LASER BEAMS on their heads! |
| Posted by: mojo 2009-06-26 13:28 |
| #13 It doesn't take much intelligence to figure out if a ship is empty or not - it'll ride much higher in the water empty than full. I'm sure it has a cargo on board, it's probably weapons, and it's probably bound for Burma. The question is, is it a bluff, or is Kimmie trying to push some buttons, including a big red one? Remember, Nork only needs to use one nuke on Seoul, and South Korea is a basket case. We could probably nuke the entire surface area of North Korea, and Kimmie would still be breathing air in some shelter, 20 stories below ground level. At the same time, mining North Korea's harbors wouldn't be a bad idea, and would REALLY put the screws to Kimmie's games. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2009-06-26 13:14 |
| #12 If I was Kimmie - I would have sent this ship plus many others out empty. |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2009-06-26 11:36 |
| #11 I suspect it'll be a Vietnamese port. Whether the ship gets checked or not depends on Vietnam being 'convinced' to take action. Also, it's likely the McCain isn't the only USN vessel one shadowing the Kangam. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-06-26 11:30 |
| #10 We know what we would do, but what will The One do? Probably not much at all. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2009-06-26 10:59 |
| #9 The way around this problem needs just a smidgen of creativity. For example, if there were international observers on the bridge of the McCain, from NATO, and suddenly the sonar "detected" a Chinese submarine in the area, imagine the surprise if the Chinese sub mysteriously fired a torpedo at the Nork ship? All the data "recorded", with all the proper sonar signatures. Of course, it would be immediately classified as Top Secret, the Chinese would be notified, and they wouldn't even know themselves until all their submarines had returned to base and had their torpedoes counted, which would take months. Meanwhile, all the hubbub would be around "keeping the Chinese attack secret", and putting out some b.s. story about the Nork ship "having an explosion in its cargo hold". Throw in a few more layers of deception, and seemingly nobody would know what actually happened. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-06-26 10:01 |
| #8 If the NORKs dump a weapon in a port, wouldn't that tick off the country with the port? |
| Posted by: Lord garth 2009-06-26 09:03 |
| #7 Barry does not like war and our enemies know this! |
| Posted by: paul2 2009-06-26 06:31 |
| #6 If not, resistance will from China and other countries will grow and international cooperation in punishing Pyongyang will falter So effing what? If no obvious lame excuse rears its head in time, they will just make one up. Full steam ahead. |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-06-26 03:35 |
| #5 Hit em soon, early, and often |
| Posted by: GirlThursday 2009-06-26 01:00 |
| #4 While I share in the sentiments of many that this ship should disappear, I'm afraid there's been too much attention. So the best thing might be to shadow it until it reaches a port and play the political game. We can't offer Vietnam more than the Norks can? Singapore is basically a friend -- time to lean on that friendship a little. About the only place the ship can pull in without being hassled is Burma. Just doing that would be as clear an admission as any as to what the ship is carrying. We want to play this one smart. The ship is slow, and we have time. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-06-26 00:44 |
| #3 Empty sea, a sub, late night torp.... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-06-26 00:19 |
| #2 They fire one rocket at US, fire 50 back and make sure you fire for effect. Tell China it is their problem now, Problem solved. Screw all of this. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-06-26 00:17 |
| #1 If you are scared of North korea, Obama, you have no business being President. Treat them like bitches. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-06-26 00:16 |