N. Korean Ship with Scuds Seized En Route to Yemen (Merged)

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
1

Hmmm. Why would those peace loving, minding their own business N. Koreans be sending Scud missiles hidden beneath concrete to Yemen?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A North Korean ship carrying at least 12 hidden Scud missiles and bound for Yemen has been stopped in the Arabian Sea, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
“The ship was stopped on Monday by Spanish authorities who stopped it in the Arabian Sea about 600 miles from the Horn of Africa. … It was believed to be bound for Yemen,” one official told Reuters.

He said U.S. intelligence had been tracking the ship closely for weeks. CNN reported that the ship had been boarded by U.S. military specialists who were trying to stabilize the cargo.

U.S. officials said the 12 Scud missiles were hidden beneath concrete.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtmltype=topNews&storyID=1884935

2

well yemen is a partner in war against terror, so it must be for someone else, someone with a presence in yemen. but would north koreans sell to OBL and co? or was it for Hamas etc?

dunno, only the secret squirrel knows

3

Somehow or other I don't think a "legitimate" arms sale to the government of Yemen would need to be hidden in concrete.

Fraudia: Does some terrorist group other than Al Qaeda supposedly have a presence there to your knowledge?

Now just because the ship is N. Korean doesn't mean that the government of N. Korea was involved in this shipment. However, this shipment certainly has an appearance that it might be evidence of state sponsored support of terrorism. It's bad enough that terrorists have a stockpile of Stingers to shoot down civilian planes. I shudder to think what they would do with Scud missiles.

4

First of all, it is not clear if Yemen was the destination.

Second, if it was, show me why Yemen can not buy scud missiles from another country?

Third, what right do Spanish ships have to inspect ships in international waters?

ps. Your link doesn't work, so I had to search the news article, hence the edit in this post. Now the CNN is also reporting it. :)

5

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Faisal: *
The ship was not headed for Yemen.
[/QUOTE]

Really??? Where was it going and do you have a source for your information?

6

As I said, now CNN is also reporting it

Here are the excerpts:

  • But U.S. officials said there is no indication the ship was headed to Iraq. They said there was every suggestion it was headed to the Horn of Africa.

  • The ship – called the So San – was stopped Monday by the Spanish navy frigate Navarra, which had to fire several warning shots to get it to halt, a senior aide to the Spanish defense minister told CNN.
    There is no word yet, on where was it headed. Only that it was intercepted near the coast of Yemen, and it was headed towards the “Horn of Africa”.

For your information, the so-called “Horn of Africa” comprises:

  1. Sudan
  2. Eritrea
  3. Djibouti
  4. Ethiopia
  5. Uganda
  6. Kenya
  7. Somalia

There is no “Yemen” there. You just deduced it yourself? :slight_smile:

7

Faisal: Thanks for the link. Contrary to what you said, I did not deduce that the shipment was going to Yemen. That is the story that was published by Reuters.

8

**N. Korean Ship with Scuds Seized En Route to Yemen **

So?

Anyway, Facts about North Korea’s Scud C

  • Length: 37 feet

  • Diameter: 3 feet

  • Payload: 1,300 pounds

  • Range: 340 miles

  • No Dong 1/2:

  • Length: 53 feet

  • Diameter: 4 feet

  • Payload: 2,600 pounds

  • Range: 930 miles

  • Taepo-dong 1:

  • Length: 106 feet

  • Diameter: 4 feet

  • Payload: 1,600 pounds

  • Range: 3,100 miles :mudhosh:

  • Taepo-dong 2:

  • Length: 116 feet

  • Diameter: 4 feet

  • Payload: 1,650 pounds

  • Range: 3,720 miles :mudhosh:

9

My voice

I agree that the destination would not be yemeni govt, but it could go to plenty of places and groups, N. Korea has been pointed as missle supplier to Syria, Iran etc in past.

We also dont know if it was from korean govt or some under the table deal with some corrupt officers or producers.

could be al qaeda, could be hamas, could be fatah.. who knows, for all we know it could be going into some saudi al-qaeda ppl via yemen where they could launch attacka aginst their govt etc..

I guess we will just ahve to sit and wait.

10

>>Contrary to what you said, I did not deduce that the shipment was going to Yemen. That is the story that was published by Reuters.

myvoice,

The ONLY thing confirmed at this point is that these are scud missiles and the crew is North Korean and these were intercepted first by Spanish who then called in US.

Who sold these, where they are destined for, who is the buyer, whose ship is it... are all unknown at this point. What we are getting from the news are a lot of conjecture, unnamed spokesmen, thoeries and lots of garbled history thrown together. This is a developing story. Lets hold our horses.

11

It was headed to Pakistan.

12

:smack::smack:

Hmmm Yemeni government did order these scuds and fancy talk of al qaida,hamas and anti muslim hysteria is the usual crap spewed out by western media and governments!
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-12193383,00.html

13

Maybe it was the U.S. sending them covertly under the guise of Korea (in case they got caught, like they did) to Iraq to set Saddam up. ;)

14

I would think it highly unlikely that they were going to Al-queda.These scuds are launched from the back of large trucks,which is hardly something that terrorists would use.They would be too visible.

The most likely place would be Iraq,they are the ones in the area who need them most.However that is only my opinion.

15

The ship carried no markings.. according to International maritime Law, US is allowed to inspect such vessels.. although the Spanish were the first to accost them.

16

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Soggy: *
The ship carried no markings.. according to International maritime Law, US is allowed to inspect such vessels.. although the Spanish were the first to accost them.
[/QUOTE]

It is not only the US who can inspect them but any NATO warship.

17

Well all speculations off. Yemen ordered the shipment and wants it released.

18

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by PakistaniAbroad: *
Well all speculations off. Yemen ordered the shipment and wants it released.
[/QUOTE]

You can't just roll in here and start calling it off.

19

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Chaltahai: *

You can't just roll in here and start calling it off.
[/QUOTE]

he just called the speculations off.

20

Mr. Fraudiya yaar...I understood what he said. Stop being a jackass, I was just giving him a hardtime, becuase I haven't seen a post of his in a while. Damn!