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North Korea Just LOVES Teasing Us With Their Nukes

Test Looms as U.S. Tracks North Korean Ship
SEOUL, South Korea — A North Korean ship shadowed by an American Navy destroyer and possibly heading toward Myanmar on Sunday could pose the first test of how far the United States and its allies will go under a new United Nations resolution to stop the North’s military shipments.

The United States began tracking the ship, the 2,000-ton freighter Kang Nam, after it left Nampo, a port near Pyongyang, the North’s capital, on Wednesday.

Pentagon officials have said they suspect the ship is carrying prohibited materials, but they have declined to say where it may be headed. A South Korean cable news network, YTN, on Sunday quoted an unidentified intelligence source as saying that Myanmar was the destination of the freighter, which may be carrying missile components.

North Korea has said it would consider interception an “act of war” and react accordingly.

Over the weekend, the North’s state-run news media said the country vowed to “respond to sanctions with retaliation” and threatened “unlimited retaliatory strikes” against South Korea if it cooperated with the sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is ruled by a military junta and has long been suspected of buying North Korean arms as well as providing transit services for North Korean vessels engaged in illicit trade. The Kang Nam is the first North Korean vessel to be tracked under the resolution adopted by the Security Council on June 12 to punish North Korea for its May 25 nuclear test.

The resolution forbids North Korea to traffic in a wide range of nuclear and conventional weaponry and calls on United Nations members to search North Korean ships, with the crews’ consent, if there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect that banned cargo is aboard. If the crew does not accept inspection on the high seas, North Korea is to direct the vessel to a port for inspection by local authorities there.

Because Myanmar is another nation defying international weapons sanctions, a port there would be unlikely to comply with the resolution.

Shortly after North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, the Kang Nam was detained in Hong Kong following a Council resolution banning trade in nuclear and ballistic missile technology. But then the ship was found to be carrying no cargo.

The potential high-seas confrontation over the Kang Nam came as American defense officials planned to travel this week to South Korea, Japan and China to discuss how to enforce the sanctions.

Last week, the United States urged banks to become more vigilant against financial transactions involving North Korea. The United States also said it had deployed a floating radar base near Hawaii to guard against a long-range North Korean missile test, which the North Koreans have said they may conduct soon, possibly around July 4.

Questioned about the North’s behavior, President Obama said in a taped interview with CBS News to be broadcast Monday that “this administration — and our military — is fully prepared for any contingencies.”

Mr. Obama would not specify if he meant the United States would respond militarily to a North Korean missile launching aimed at Hawaii. But he said, “I do want to give assurances to the American people that the T’s are crossed and the I’s are dotted in terms of what might happen.”

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S. Korean Minister Says Social Instability Increasing in North
South Korea's chief official on North Korea policy says he believes North Korea's recent acts of international defiance are aimed at shoring up power at home.

With talks to end the North's nuclear weapons at a standstill, South Korea is intensifying its diplomacy with partners to respond to the North's latest threats.

North Korea's official Rodung Sinmun newspaper described the country as a "proud nuclear power" Monday, and warned it would be a "great mistake for the United States to think it will not be hurt" in the event of military conflict on the peninsula.

That latest example of shrill rhetoric from Pyongyang comes as the U.S. Navy tracks a North Korean vessel which may be carrying missile parts or other weaponry. Such items are prohibited under the latest United Nations Security Council resolution passed after North Korea's nuclear test last month.

South Korea's main 24-hour cable news channel network cited intelligence officials Monday as saying the North Korean vessel was probably destined for Burma.

South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-taek told the Reuters news agency Monday, Pyongyang's recent provocations appear to fit a pattern.

Hyun says social instability has increased in North Korea, so leader Kim Jong-il needs to continue to reinforce his domestic power base.

Those comments echo earlier assessments by analysts here in Seoul, who say Kim Jong Il's apparent stroke about a year ago challenged perceptions of his complete command of the North's government.

Hyun adds, the North Korean leader also has to think about possible power succession, whether it happens right away or some time later-- that is another reason to reinforce his power base.

South Korea is intensifying diplomacy to contain North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons. President Lee Myung-bak travels to Tokyo this Sunday to discuss North Korea with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso. Seoul's main envoy on the nuclear issue, Wi Sung-lac, is scheduled to meet with his Russian counterpart in Moscow later this week. A South Korean envoy is also traveling to a gathering in Poland for the South's first formal participation in a U.S.-led anti-proliferation cooperative.

U.S. official: N. Korean Ship May be Moving Weapons, Technology

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military is tracking a North Korean ship believed to be carrying illicit weapons or technology, a senior U.S. official said Thursday.

The ship, the Kang Nam, is a North Korean-flagged ship, according to two senior U.S. officials, and is currently in the Pacific.

While the United States does not know what specifically is on the ship, the Kang Nam is a "repeat offender," known for having carried "proliferation materials," one senior defense official said.

Without speaking to any details of the Kang Nam report, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that the United States would not forcibly board a North Korean ship but, in accordance with the recent United Nations resolution, would request permission to search the ship or press any port the ship docks in to inspect it for illegal materials.

Mullen told reporters at a news conference that neither the United States nor any other navy would board a ship without permission.

"The United Nations Security Council resolution does not include an option for opposed-boarding or noncompliant boarding with respect to that," he said. "We expect compliance."

North Korea has warned that any effort to stop one of its ships would be considered an act of war.

"To further isolate itself, to further noncomply with international guidance and regulations in the long run puts them in a more difficult position," Mullen said.

And MORE Flu: U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency As Swine Flu Spreads

(CNN) -- The United States government declared a public health emergency Sunday as the number of identified cases of swine flu in the nation rose to 20.

The declaration is part of a "standard operating procedure" that will make available additional government resources to combat the virus, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at the White House.

Additional cases of swine flu are expected to be reported in the coming days, added Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

No one has died in the U.S. from swine flu, officials said Sunday.

In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said eight students at St. Francis Prepatory School in Queens have tested positive for swine flu. More than 100 students at the school were absent with flu-like symptoms last week, he said.

State public health officials in Ohio confirmed one case of swine flu on Sunday. There have been seven confirmed cases in California, two in Kansas, and two in Texas, Besser said.

The World Health Organization advised all countries to be on the lookout for "unusual" outbreaks of flu, after an emergency meeting Saturday as the seriousness of the outbreak became clear.

CDC: 8 New York Students Have Swine Flu

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed cases of swine flu in eight students at a New York preparatory school, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday.

The students have had only mild symptoms and none have been hospitalized, he said. Some of the students have already recovered.

More than 100 students were absent from school due to flu-like symptoms last week. New York health officials tested samples for eight students Saturday and determined the students were probably suffering from swine flu, and the CDC confirmed the diagnosis on Sunday, Bloomberg said.

The announcement brings the number of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States to 20. Bloomberg and New York Health Commissioner Tom Frieden said there is no sign of a citywide outbreak of the flu, and no sign of a potential outbreak of swine flu at other schools.

Some students at the school spent spring break in Mexico, Bloomberg said, but authorities have not determined whether any of the students with a confirmed case of swine flu was in Mexico. Someone who traveled to Mexico may not have had any flu symptoms but passed on the flu to someone else, he noted.

Frieden called on students who are home sick to stay home for 48 hours after their symptoms subside.

If symptoms are normal for a regular kind of flu, there is no need to go to a hospital, said Bloomberg. If symptoms become severe, as with any illness, people should go to the hospital, he said.

St. Francis, which has 2,700 students, announced it will remain closed for two days. Asked whether the students' illnesses have been minor because they're young and healthy or because it is a minor strain of the virus, Frieden responded, "We don't know."


It has been a "relatively mild" flu season, Frieden said.

"We don't know whether this strain has been circulating more widely."