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  1. #1
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    Nuclear bond for North Korea and Myanmar

    Nuclear bond for North Korea and Myanmar
    By Norman Robespierre
    Oct 4, 2008

    YANGON - A recent flurry of high-level contacts between North Korea and Myanmar raises new nuclear proliferation concerns between the two pariah states, one of which already possesses nuclear-weapon capabilities and the other possibly aspiring.

    At least three delegations led by flag-level officers from Myanmar's army have traveled to Pyongyang in the past three months, hot on the heels of the two sides' re-establishment last year of formal diplomatic relations. According to a source familiar with the travel itineraries of Myanmar officials, Brigadier General Aung Thein Lin visited North Korea in mid-September.

    Before that, other Myanmar military delegations visited North Korea, including a group headed in August by Lieutenant General

    Tin Aye, chief of the Office of Chief Defense Industries, and another led in July by Lieutenant General Myint Hlaing, the chief of Air Defence.

    The rapid-fire visits have gone beyond goodwill gestures and the normal diplomatic niceties of re-establishing ties. Rather, the personalities involved in the visits indicate that Myanmar is not only seeking weapons procurements, but also probable cooperation in establishing air defense weaponry, missiles, rockets or artillery production facilities.

    The secretive visits are believed to entail a Myanmar quest for tunneling technology and possible assistance in developing its nascent nuclear program. Tin Aye and Myint Hlaing, by virtue of their positions as lieutenant generals, are logical choices to head official delegations in search of weapons technology for Myanmar's military, while Brigadier General Aung Thein Lin, current mayor of Yangon and chairman of the city's development committee, was formerly deputy minister of Industry-2, responsible for all industrial development in the country.

    Prior to 1998, the minister of Industry-2 also served as the chairman of the Myanmar Atomic Energy Committee. This came to an end when Myanmar's Atomic Energy Act of 1998 designated the Ministry of Science and Technology as the lead government agency for its aspirant nuclear program. However, the Ministry of Industry-2, by virtue of its responsibilities for construction of industrial facilities and the provision of equipment, continues to play a key supporting role in Myanmar's nuclear program.

    Myanmar's stagnant nuclear program was revitalized shortly after Pakistan's first detonation of nuclear weapons in May 1998. Senior general and junta leader Than Shwe signed the Atomic Energy Law on June 8, 1998, and the timing of the legislation so soon after Pakistan's entry into the nuclear club did little to assuage international concerns about Myanmar's nuclear intentions. Some analysts believe the regime may eventually seek nuclear weapons for the dual purpose of international prestige and strategic deterrence.

    Myanmar's civilian-use nuclear ambitions made global headlines in early 2001, when Russia's Atomic Energy Committee indicated it was planning to build a research reactor in the country. The following year, Myanmar's deputy foreign minister, Khin Maung Win, publicly announced the regime's decision to build a nuclear research reactor, citing the country's difficulty in importing radio-isotopes and the need for modern technology as reasons for the move.

    The country reportedly sent hundreds of soldiers for nuclear training in Russia that same year and the reactor was scheduled for delivery in 2003. However, the program was shelved due to financial difficulties and a formal contract for the reactor, under which Russia agreed to build a nuclear research center along with a 10 megawatt reactor, was not signed until May 2007.

    The reactor will be fueled with non-weapons grade enriched uranium-235 and it will operate under the purview of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. The reactor itself would be ill-suited for weapons development. However, the training activities associated with it would provide the basic knowledge required as a foundation for any nuclear weapons development program outside of the research center.

    Constrained reaction

    The United States' reaction to Myanmar's nuclear developments has been somewhat constrained, despite the George W Bush administration referring to the military-run country as an "outpost of tyranny".

    After Myanmar's 2002 confirmation of its intent to build the reactor, the US warned the country of its obligations as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). After the contract was formally announced in May 2007, the US State Department expressed concerns about the country's lack of adequate safety standards and the potential for proliferation.

    The warming and growing rapport between Myanmar and North Korea will likely further heighten Washington's proliferation concerns. Myanmar broke off diplomatic relations with Pyongyang in 1983, after North Korean agents bombed the Martyr's mausoleum in Yangon in an attempt to assassinate the visiting South Korean president, Chun Doo-hwan.

    The explosion killed more than 20 people, mostly South Korean officials, including the deputy prime minister and the foreign minister, and the South Korean ambassador to Myanmar. Four Myanmar nationals perished and dozens more were wounded in the blast. Myanmar severed ties with North Korea after an investigation revealed the three agents responsible for planting the bomb spent the night at a North Korean diplomat's house before setting out on their mission.

    However, common interests have brought the two secretive nations back together. The famine in North Korea in the late 1990s and Myanmar's military expansion ambitions, including a drive for self-sufficiency in production, have fostered recent trade flows. While Myanmar has the agricultural surplus to ease North Korean hunger, Pyongyang possesses the weapons and technological know-how needed to boost Yangon's military might. There is also speculation Myanmar might provide uranium, mined in remote and difficult-to-monitor areas, to North Korea.

    As testament to Pyongyang's willingness to supply weapons to the military regime, more North Korean ship visits have been noted at Thilawa port in Yangon, one of the country's primary receipt points for military cargo. During one of these visits in May 2007, two Myanmar nationals working for Japan's News Network were detained outside Yangon while covering a suspected arms delivery by a North Korean vessel.

    Growing bilateral trade has helped to heal old diplomatic wounds and eventually led to a joint communique re-establishing diplomatic relations in April 2007. The emerging relationship is also a natural outgrowth of the ostracism each faces in the international arena, including the economic sanctions imposed and maintained against them by the West.

    While it is possible the recent visits are related to Myanmar's nascent nuclear program, the evidence is far from conclusive. Nevertheless, Myanmar has undoubtedly taken notice of the respect that is accorded to North Korea on the world stage because of its nuclear weapon status. Unlike North Korea, Myanmar is a signatory to the NPT.

    Myanmar has publicly stated it seeks nuclear technology only for peaceful purposes, such as developing radio-isotopes for agricultural use and medical research. Yet two well-placed sources told this reporter that North Korean and Iranian technicians were already advising Myanmar on a possible secret nuclear effort, running in parallel to the aboveboard Russia-supported program. Asia Times Online could not independently confirm the claim.

    The lack of participation by Myanmar's Ministry of Science and Technology in the recent trips to Pyongyang would seem to indicate that nuclear developments were probably not the primary focus of the high-level meetings. The regime is also known to be interested in North Korea's tunneling technology (see Myanmar and North Korea share a tunnel vision, Asia Times Online, July 19, 2006) in line with the ruling junta's siege mentality and apparent fears of a possible US-led pre-emptive military attack.

    The junta and others have no doubt noted the extraordinary problems tunneling and cave complexes have caused US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the success North Korea has enjoyed in hiding underground its nuclear facilities. Bunkers are rumored to underlie several buildings at Naypyidaw, where the regime abruptly moved the national capital in 2005. The ongoing construction of a second capital, for the hot season, at Yadanapon, is also believed to have tunnels and bunkers integrated into its layout.

    Whether the visits are related to arms procurement, military industrial development, tunneling technology or nuclear exchange, they foreshadow a potentially dangerous trend for Myanmar's non-nuclear Southeast Asian neighbors and their Western allies, including the US.

    As the true nature of the budding bilateral relationship comes into closer view, the risk is rising that Pyongyang and Yangon are conspiring to create a security quandary in Southeast Asia akin to the one now vexing the US and its allies on the Korean Peninsula.

    Norman Robespierre, a pseudonym, is a freelance journalist specializing in Sino-Asian affairs.

    atimes.com

  2. #2
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mid
    A recent flurry of high-level contacts between North Korea and Myanmar raises new nuclear proliferation concerns between the two pariah states, one of which already possesses nuclear-weapon capabilities and the other possibly aspiring.
    Given N. Korea is in as bad or worse condition regarding the welfare of it's citizens the only thing the N. Koreans have to offer is nuks. I would be worried as well.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Norton View Post
    the only thing the N. Koreans have to offer is nuks. I would be worried as well.
    snap

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    They'll be meeting with Chavez next.

  5. #5
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    they are just after aid and money

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by gjbkk
    they are just after aid and money
    Which ones?

  7. #7
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    N. Korea digs tunnels in Myanmar to earn dollars

    N. Korea digs tunnels in Myanmar to earn dollars
    By Bertil Lintner
    2009.06.12



    BANGKOK --
    Missiles and missile and nuclear technology, counterfeiting money and cigarette smuggling, front companies and restaurants in foreign countries, labor export to the Middle East -- North Korea has been very innovative when it comes to raising badly needed foreign exchange for the regime in Pyongyang. But there is a less known trade in service that the North Koreans have offered to its foreign clients: expertise in tunneling. A fascinating new glimpse of this business has now been offered in secret photos from Burma obtained by this correspondent.

    The photos, taken between 2003 and 2006, show that while the rest of the world is speculating about the outcome of long-awaited elections in Burma, the ruling military junta has been busy digging in for the long haul -- literally. North Korean technicians have helped them construct underground facilities where they can survive any threats from their own people as well as the outside world. It is not known if the tunnels are linked to Burma's reported efforts to develop nuclear technology -- in which the North Koreans allegedly are active as well. (See Burma's Nuclear Temptation by Bertil Lintner, YaleGlobal, Dec. 3, 2008)

    The photographs published here show that an extensive network of underground installations was built near Burma's new, fortified capital Naypyidaw. In November 2005, the military moved its administration from the old capital Rangoon to an entirely new site that was carved out of the wilderness 460 kilometers north of Rangoon.

    Meaning the "Abode of Kings," Naypyidaw is meant to symbolize the power of the military and its desire to build a new state based on the tradition of Burma's pre-colonial warrior kings. But underground facilities were apparently deemed necessary to secure the military's grip on power.

    Additional tunnels and underground meeting halls have been built near Taunggyi, the capital of Burma's northeastern Shan State and the home of several of the country's decades-long insurgencies. Some of the pictures, taken in June 2006, show a group of technicians in civilian dress walking out of a government guesthouse in the Naypyidaw area. Asian diplomats have identified those technicians, with features distinct from the Burmese workers around them, as North Koreans.

    This is quite a turn around as Burma severed relations with Pyongyang in 1983 after North Korean agents planted a bomb at Rangoon's Martyrs Mausoleum killing 18 visiting South Korean officials, including the then-deputy prime minister and three other government ministers.

    Secret talks between Burmese and North Korean diplomats began in Bangkok in the early 1990s. The two sides had discovered that despite the hostile act in the previous decade they had a lot in common. Both had come under unprecedented international condemnation, especially by the US, because of their blatant disregard for the most basic human rights and Pyongyang for its nuclear weapons program. Burma also needed more military hardware to suppress an increasingly rebellious urban population as well as ethnic rebels in the frontier areas. North Korea needed food, rubber and other essentials -- and was willing to accept barter deals, which suited the cash-strapped Burmese generals. "They have both drawn their wagons in a circle ready to defend themselves," a Bangkok-based Western diplomat said. "Burma's generals admire the North Koreans for standing up to the United States and wish they could do the same."

    After an exchange of secret visits, North Korean armaments began to arrive in Burma. The curious relationship between Burma and North Korea was first disclosed in the Hong Kong-based weekly Far Eastern Economic Review on July 10, 2003. A group of 15-20 North Korean technicians were then seen at a government guesthouse near the old capital Rangoon. The report was met with skepticism, especially because of the 1983 Rangoon bombings. But, when North Korean-made field artillery pieces were seen in Burma in the early 2000s, it became clear that North Korea had found a new ally -- several years before diplomatic relations between the two countries were restored in April 2007.

    "While based on a 1950s Russian design, these weapons (the field guns) were battle-tested and reliable," Australian Burma scholar Andrew Selth stated in a 2004 working paper for the Australian National University. "They significantly increased Burma's long-range artillery capabilities, which were then very weak." Since then, Burma has also taken delivery of North Korean truck-mounted, multiple rocket launchers and possibly also surface-to-air missiles for its Chinese-supplied naval vessels.

    Then came the tunneling experts. Most of Pyongyang's own defense industries, including its chemical and biological-weapons programs, and many other military as well as government installations are underground. This includes known factories at Ganggye and Sakchu, where thousands of technicians and workers labor in a maze of tunnels dug under mountains. The export of such know-how to Burma was first documented in June 2006, when intelligence agencies intercepted a message from Naypyidaw confirming the arrival of a group of North Korean tunneling experts at the site. Today, three years later, the dates on the photos published today confirm the accuracy of this report. By now, the tunnels and underground installations should be completed, as would those near Taunggyi. This well-hidden complex ensures there is no danger of irate civilians storming government buildings, as they did during the massive pro-democracy uprising in August-September 1988. Sources say that the internationally isolated military junta may also consider these deep bunkers as their last repair in case of air strikes of the kind that the Taliban in Afghanistan or Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq endured.

    It is not clear how much, or what, Burma has paid for the assistance provided by the North Korean experts, but it could be food -- or gold, which is found in riverbeds in northern Burma. Or some other mineral. Burma, of course, is not the only foreign tunneling venture by North Korea.

    In southern Lebanon following the 2006 war, Israel's Defense Forces and the United Nations found several of the underground complexes, which by then had been abandoned by Hezbollah militants. By coincidence or not, these tunnels and underground rooms -- some big enough for meetings to be held there -- are strikingly similar to those the South Koreans have unearthed under the Demilitarized Zone that separates South from North Korea. Under small, manhole cover-sized entrances hidden under grass and bushes were steel-lined shafts with ladders leading down to big rooms with electricity, ventilation, bathrooms with showers and drainage systems.

    Some of the tunnels are 40 meters deep and located only 100 meters from the Israeli border. North Korea's possible involvement in digging these tunnels is however, difficult to ascertain. According to Israeli investigative journalist Ronen Bergman, a senior officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, who had defected to the West, revealed that, "thanks to the presence of hundreds of Iranian engineers and technicians, and experts from North Korea who were brought in by Iranian diplomats ... Hezbollah succeeded in building a 25-kilometer subterranean strip in South Lebanon."

    Beirut sources suggest that it is more likely that Hezbollah has used North Korean designs and blueprints given to them by their Syrian or Iranian allies -- both of whom are close to the North Koreans. (Both Iran and Syria have acquired missile technology from North Korea, and what was believed to be a secret nuclear reactor in Syria built with North Korean help was destroyed by the Israeli air force in September 2007.) Either way, North Korean expertise in tunneling has become a valuable commodity for export. And Pyongyang is flexible about the method of payment as long as it helps the international pariah regime.

    Bertil Lintner is a Swedish journalist based in Thailand and the author of several works on Asia, including "Blood Brothers: The Criminal Underworld of Asia" and "Great Leader, Dear Leader: Demystifying North Korea under the Kim Clan." He can be reached at lintner[at]asiapacificms.com

    koreaherald.co.kr

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    Very interesting article Mid. Worthy of publication. Thanks for your news updates. Seems like...'birds of a feather'.

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    Are there any other tunnel freaks in the forum ?

    I ask because for many years I was working in tunnels (Testing mining machinery with CAT and Rolls Royce power units - and later for many years handling tunnelling insurance claims) and the picture - top right - of the entrance is very strange !

    For a start the profile is just about the weakest shape - tall and narrow.
    Then you have the lack of re-bar - lateral
    The shitty fragmented rock/earth that it is going into and the visible wall thickness

    I wonder what they were taking down that 'ole that needed it to be so high ???

    And NO - the reinsurance possibilities on that one - just from the pic would be - No Chance !

    Just some thoughts that crossed my mind ( a short and very lonely journey ! )

  10. #10
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    North Korean ship likely headed for Myanmar - TV

    North Korean ship likely headed for Myanmar - TV
    Sun Jun 21, 2009

    SEOUL, June 21 (Reuters) - A North Korean ship that the United States is shadowing is likely headed for Myanmar, South Korean television reported on Sunday.

    YTN channel quoted a South Korean intelligence source as saying the final destination of the Kang Nam looks to be Myanmar after leaving a North Korean port on Wednesday.

    U.S. officials have declined to say what the ship might be carrying but said it was "a subject of interest". North Korea has five similar ships used for weapons trade.

    Fox News quoted a senior U.S. military source as saying the ship appeared to be heading toward Singapore and that the navy destroyer USS John McCain was positioning itself in case it gets orders to intercept, according to a story on its website.

    Singapore, a U.S. ally, said it would act "appropriately" if the vessel heads to its port with a cargo of weapons.

    Singapore has the world's busiest shipping port and is also the world's top ship refuelling hub.

    The Kang Nam is the first North Korean ship to be monitored under the new sanctions, adopted this month in response to Pyongyang's May 25 nuclear test.

    The resolution authorised U.N. member states to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo.

    (Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by)

    af.reuters.com

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    North Korean ship suspected of carrying arms
    21 June 2009


    North Korean ship, the Kang Nam I, is anchored in Hong Kong waters.

    SEOUL : A North Korean ship that a US Navy destroyer is tracking off China as part of efforts to enforce UN sanctions is suspected of carrying missiles or related parts, a news report said on Sunday.

    South Korea's YTN television news channel, citing an unnamed intelligence source, said the ship was heading for Myanmar via Singapore.

    The 2,000-tonne Kang Nam 1 left the North Korean western port of Nampo on June 17, with Myanmar set as its final destination, YTN said.

    "The United States suspects that the Kang Nam 1 may carry missiles or related parts and that the ship is likely to call at Singapore on her route," the source said, according to YTN.

    The ship is one of five - Kang Nams 1 to 5 - used by Pyongyang for arms trade in the past, YTN said.

    Officials at Seoul's National Intelligence Service were not immediately available for comment on the YTN report.

    A US defence official said on Friday the USS John S. McCain was shadowing the Kang Nam 1, the first vessel to be monitored under a UN resolution imposed a week ago that bans shipments of arms and nuclear or missile technology to and from North Korea.

    Another defence official said the ship was one of a group of vessels previously linked to illicit missile-related cargo.

    It was unclear what cargo the ship was carrying but "once a suspect, always a suspect", he said.

    US officials have yet to indicate if or when they might ask to search the vessel under the UN Security Council resolution.

    The North Koreans are expected to reject any such request. But at some point, the ship will likely need to stop for refuelling along the Chinese coast or elsewhere, US officials said.

    At that point, the country where the ship enters port is obliged under the UN resolution to search the vessel if there are grounds for suspicion.

    Pentagon officials declined to comment on a television report saying the Navy destroyer was heading to intercept the North Korean vessel.

    The officials stressed that the UN sanctions do not authorise military force and that Washington was pursuing a diplomatic strategy.

    Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been running high since Pyongyang carried out its second nuclear test last month.

    After the underground test and subsequent missile launches, the Security Council adopted the UN resolution last week that includes financial sanctions designed to choke off revenue to the regime. - AFP/ms

    channelnewsasia.com

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    Its a bit of a crappy old ship.

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    Quote Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince
    Its a bit of a crappy old ship.
    de rigueur when you are battling an evil empire


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    ^ is that the ship that did the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs?

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    seeing as the goodies (the west) are busy dumping their nuclear waste off the coast of Somalia and thereby killing the fishes and forcing the fishermen to become pirates it's a little ironic that the UN thinks it's wrong for N Korea to send a boat to Burma. They say there is a suspicion that it may contain nuclear weapons or some other shit - bollocks. Just the USA playing games with the media and public opinion in order to sanction the eventual colonization of the whole of the Korean peninsula.

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    As I understand it they can search it by force if it lands for refueling in a country agreeing to the UN security council resolution, which includes China. But if the Yanks attempt to detain the ship at sea it would be illegal under international law and akin to piracy. The North Koreans have already said they would consider it an act of war if any of their ships were detained and searched at sea. Looks like the Yanks are not taking the chance this time in the hope they will corner the ship in port while refueling.
    Wouldn't be terribly surprised if the North Koreans have anticipated this scenario and thrown out a tester with nothing illegal on board though.
    If they want to get a ship from NK to Burma without refueling it wouldn't be too difficult.

    A bit of shadow boxing and brinkmanship on both sides me thinks.

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    Quote Originally Posted by teddy View Post
    seeing as the goodies (the west) are busy dumping their nuclear waste off the coast of Somalia and thereby killing the fishes and forcing the fishermen to become pirates it's a little ironic that the UN thinks it's wrong for N Korea to send a boat to Burma. They say there is a suspicion that it may contain nuclear weapons or some other shit - bollocks. Just the USA playing games with the media and public opinion in order to sanction the eventual colonization of the whole of the Korean peninsula.
    Yea, leave those nice folks alone. Bad, bad west at it again, poisoning the entire world,and forcing God fearing people, to commit murder, and theft. Maybe that's the plan, to make it easier to colonize the whole world. The Jews probably helped formulate this plan too. You are so right.

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    There's an interesting article from The Irrawaddy for those interested in the North Korean/Burmese relationship.


    JxP

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    ^^ A lot of anger there. Why not mellow out a bit. Theres a lot of wind up artists about.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JuniorExPat View Post
    There's an interesting article from The Irrawaddy for those interested in the North Korean/Burmese relationship.


    JxP
    Bertil drinks in the Kafe in CM if anyone wants a chat with him

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    Quote Originally Posted by mellow View Post

    Yea, leave those nice folks alone. Bad, bad west at it again, poisoning the entire world,and forcing God fearing people, to commit murder, and theft. Maybe that's the plan, to make it easier to colonize the whole world. The Jews probably helped formulate this plan too. You are so right.
    anyone fearing god should be crucified

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    Not sure why everyone is so worried...There is a very simple solution..Call the Thai Navy and let them fire up their aircraft carrier and get after them...Problem Solved

    Stoneman

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    Quote Originally Posted by Panda View Post
    As I understand it they can search it by force if it lands for refueling in a country agreeing to the UN security council resolution, which includes China. But if the Yanks attempt to detain the ship at sea it would be illegal under international law and akin to piracy. The North Koreans have already said they would consider it an act of war if any of their ships were detained and searched at sea. Looks like the Yanks are not taking the chance this time in the hope they will corner the ship in port while refueling.
    Wouldn't be terribly surprised if the North Koreans have anticipated this scenario and thrown out a tester with nothing illegal on board though.
    If they want to get a ship from NK to Burma without refueling it wouldn't be too difficult.

    A bit of shadow boxing and brinkmanship on both sides me thinks.
    Headed to Burma. Perhaps. Alledgedly carrying arms. Bit of a media circus...

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    NK and Burma..perfect for each other. NOT!

    They are supplying arms, and who knows perhaps nuclear weapons. Just a thought.

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    Suspicious N. Korean Ship to Dock in Burma Soon
    By MIN LWIN
    Monday, June 22, 2009

    A 2,000-ton North Korean cargo ship will dock at Thilawa port, 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Rangoon, in the next few days, an official at Thilawa port authority told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

    The Kang Nam 1 left a North Korean port on Wednesday and passed along the coast of China. A US Navy destroyer has tracked the ship since its departure.


    The Kang Nam I cargo ship docks at Rangoon in 2007. A North Korean ship is suspected of ferrying banned weapons cargo in violation of a UN Security Council resolution. The US military has beefed up defenses in Hawaii over fears that North Korea could launch a missile toward the Pacific island chain.
    (Photo: AFP)

    The same ship docked at the port in 2004, at that time raising suspicions about the nature of its cargo. Speculation centered on convention arms, missiles or some type of nuclear weaponry.“Normally, North Korea cargo ships dock in Thilawa port,” the port official told The Irrawaddy.

    The Burmese military government permitted a North Korean cargo ship, the Kang Nam 1, to dock in 2007 near Thilawa port because it reportedly was in distress and taking shelter from a storm. The docking raised suspicions about its cargo.

    The government said that it allowed the Kang Nam to dock for humanitarian reasons. The true purpose of its visit might have had something to do with Burma’s goal of being a nuclear power by 2025, according to some military analysts.

    In the past, there have been rumors circulating inside and outside Burma that North Korean nuclear technology specialists were in Burma, offering the junta nuclear and biological technology.


    Map showing locations relevant to the North Korean vessel Kang Nam I, which left the port of Nampo last week and is reportedly heading to Burma with a suspected consignment of missile parts, according to South Korean media.
    (Graphic: AFP)

    Military analysts say the North Korean Communist regime has provided Burma with weapons, military technology transfers and expertise in underground tunneling used for concealing military installations.

    North Korea sold rocket launchers to Burma in 2008, in a deal that was brokered by an unnamed Singapore trading country in violation of the UN sanctions imposed against North Korea after it conducted nuclear tests in 2006.

    Burmese-North Korean military ties were reestablished in 1999 when members of the Burmese junta paid a low-profile visit to the rogue state.

    The junta sent a delegation to North Korea secretly again in November 2000 for a meeting with high-ranking officials of North Korea’s People’s Armed Forces.

    A North Korean delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Park Kil-yon met with his counterpart, Khin Maung Win, in June 2001.

    Burma and North Korea, two of Asia's most authoritarian countries, officially restored diplomatic ties in 2007, ending a diplomatic crisis after a bombing carried out by North Korean spies in 1983, part of an assassination attempt on South Korea's then-president, Chun Doo-hwan, during a visit to Rangoon.

    North Korea has consistently angered its Asian neighbors and other countries with threats of missile launches, threats against South Korea and its on-gain, off-again nuclear program, prompting US and South Korean forces to raise their military alert status recently.

    irrawaddy.org

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