Taiwan boards N Korean ship

The international community is taking no chances with North Korea

Taiwanese customs officers have boarded a North Korean freighter at the request of US intelligence authorities, reports say.

The Taiwanese Central News Agency reports the US as saying the ship could be transporting illegal chemicals that could be used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

Officials from Taiwan's Ministry of Finance and Customs Bureau (MFKCB) subsequently boarded the ship, which arrived in Kaohsiung Harbour on Thursday from Bangkok, Thailand.

The Taiwanese newspaper Lien Ho Pao reported the US had urged Taiwan's National Security Council to confiscate the ship, Be Gaehung, saying "aluminium hydroxide compound" included in the ship's load could be used for military purposes.

Officials from the National Security Council boarded the ship in the company of customs officials on Thursday.

The North Korean captain, Kim Chung-nam, allegedly refused to co-operate with the inspection team and chased Taiwanese customs officers off the ship.

The 6,500-ton ship docked at Kaohsiung and declared to customs officials that it was carrying 2,000 metric tons of aluminium powder, which it was to unload in port.

It also declared it was carrying about one ton of Indian-made "aluminium hydroxide compound" in transit to North Korea.

The raw aluminium compound can be used in aluminium smelting, as an enhancer in the production of rubber and medical materials and as chemical filler.

It is not generally believed to be dangerous.

But it can be used in the production of missile skin and other materials when added with other raw materials to make aluminium salt, Lien Ho Pao newspaper said.

The ship and its 43 North Korean crew were originally scheduled to stay in Taiwan for two days and depart after unloading.

Friction

Pyongyang responded angrily to plans by the international community to step up checks on North Korean ships, announced in June.

North Korea, in a state-run newspaper commentary, threatened an "immediate physical retaliatory step against the US once it judges that its sovereignty is infringed upon by Washington's blockade operation".

The so-called "Madrid initiative" proposed changes in international law that would enable ships and aircraft suspected of involvement in illegal activates to be stopped and searched on the high seas.

It is supported by the UK, Canada, France, Poland, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Spain, Japan and the Netherlands, as well as Australia and the United States.

The United States last month imposed sanctions on a North Korean company for its part in selling Scud missiles to Yemen in December 2002.

A Spanish warship intercepted the shipment of Scuds bound for Yemen on US intelligence, creating a diplomatic incident.