North Korean ship carrying contraband Cuban weapons must be handled by the United Nations...an idea whose time has gone...
despite a soothing diplomatic note from Pyongyang, according a Panamanian government official.
The verbal note from Pyongyang's embassy in Havana noted that the ship did not seek to endanger the security of the Panama Canal and that North Korea hopes for "amiable cooperation" to resolve the case "diplomatically," the official said.
North Korea also asked in the note Friday that two of its diplomats be allowed into Panama to provide consular services to the 35 crewmen of the freighter Chong Chon Gang, said the official, who requested anonymity to speak frankly about the case.