N Koreans cleared over heroin

The Pong Su was found carrying $50m of heroin

A North Korean shipping company is considering suing Australia's government after its senior officers were cleared of drug trafficking.

The captain and three senior officers of the Pong Su were found not guilty on Sunday of aiding heroin smuggling, by Victoria state's Supreme Court.

The suggestion that senior crew were implicated in the smuggling had led to accusations of backing by Pyongyang.

The Pong Su freighter has been impounded in Sydney since April 2003.

Jack Dalziel, a lawyer representing the Pong Su shipping company and captain Man Sun Song, said on Monday he was under instructions to consider seeking compensation for loss of earnings by the ship's officers.

The ship had also been worth several hundred thousand US dollars at the time of the raid, but had since deteriorated, The Age reported.

Australia's chief of police Mick Keelty said that, as in other smuggling cases, the ship would be destroyed.

Man Sun Song, along with the ship's chief mate, chief engineer and political secretary, were all acquitted of heroin smuggling on Sunday.

But it was revealed after the verdict that four other men pleaded guilty to smuggling before the trial started.

Two have been sentenced to 23 and 22 years in jail and the two others have yet to be sentenced.

Pyongyang's role

Mr Keelty said on Monday it was "hard to establish" whether the North Korean government had been involved in the operation, given Sunday's acquittals.

"So it's a bit hard for me now to say that there's any direct evidence of the involvement of the North Korean government," he said.

"But clearly an operation of that size doesn't get under way without some sort of... significant support not only to get the heroin into North Korea but to get a vessel from that side of world over to Lorne in Victoria does require significant resourcing and support."

The North Korean government has denied any involvement in the case, in which more than 125kg (275 pounds) of heroin were discovered on the ship when it anchored off the southwest Victoria town of Lorne on 16 April 2003.

At the time, Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer summoned North Korea's ambassador to Australia and alleged that Pyongyang was involved in the incident.

The US government went on to cite the case as evidence of a link between North Korea's government and international drug trafficking,