Vol. 77/No. 29      AUGUST 12, 2013

Acting on a “tip” from U.S. intelligence that the ship was smuggling narcotics, Panamanian authorities intercepted the 450-foot Chong Chon Gang as it prepared to cross the Panama Canal, heading for home.

Panamanian authorities forcibly took over the ship after a five-day standoff. The 35 North Korean crew members were arrested after putting up fierce resistance and destroying the ship’s electrical system. The North Korean government demanded July 17 that the ship and its crew be released. The crew has been charged with attempting to transport undeclared weapons through the canal.

In the following days, the Panamanian government asked the U.N. to investigate whether there had been a breach of sanctions imposed on North Korea by the U.N. Security Council under the self-serving fig leaf of “nuclear nonproliferation.”

Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement July 16 saying that, in addition to 10,000 tons of sugar, the ship “transported 240 metric tons of [Soviet-era] obsolete defensive weapons — two anti-aircraft missile complexes Volga and Pechora, nine missiles in parts and spares, two Mig-21 Bis and 15 motors for this type of airplane, all of it manufactured in the mid-twentieth century — to be repaired and returned to Cuba.”

The agreement with North Korea, the Cuban statement said, was aimed at filling “the need to maintain our defensive capacity in order to preserve national sovereignty.”

After a week of searching, Panamanian agents have found nothing not declared in Cuba’s statement.

U.N. Security Council representatives are expected to arrive in Panama sometime after Aug. 4.
 
 
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