US to ‘Confront’ Ships Near North Korea, But Won’t Forcibly Board Them
US Envoy Predicts North Korea Will Respond "Irresponsibly"
Having managed to win support for what it called “a strong and united international response” in the form of new sanctions and a UN Security Council resolution against North Korea, the White House says the United States will now “confront” ships near North Korea, though it will not forcibly board them.
According to Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, the US will seek permission to board the ships and if they refuse they will press the ship’s home nation and others to force the ship to report to a port for a “mandatory inspection.”
Rice added that she expected North Korea to respond “irresponsibly” to the new measures, and that she would not be surprised if the nation reacted with “further provocation.” Analysts, however, say the resolution measures the US is hoping to put into action are largely voluntary, and will be ultimately unenforcable.
The resolution is in response to last month’s underground nuclear weapons test in North Korea, in which the nation appeared to successfully test an atomic weapon roughly on the scale of those the United States used against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War 2.
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This’ll For Sure Make North Korea Behave « Eat It Or Wear It
June 12th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
[...] to Punish North Korea for Nuclear Test (Update3) White House: US may confront ships near NKorea US to ‘Confront’ Ships Near North Korea, But Won’t Forcibly Board Them U.N. Ambassador: North Korea Could Become More Provocative after Security Council [...]
Valerianus
June 13th, 2009 at 11:43 am
So, in other words, the U.S. plans on blockading North Korea, albeit with a velvet glove over the iron gauntlet. The "mandatory inspection" is the same commerce control arrangement used by the British in their blockades from the Napoleonic Wars through World War II. Any ship that fails to put in to the designated port, undergo a search for contraband and inspection of shipping documents, and receive a license to continue will be subject to seizure under a prize ordinance. All of this voluntary claptrap is just that – claptrap. What happens on the high seas, away from the press and publicity, will be quite a different matter. The U.S. Navy, which still harbors deep resentment over the North Korean seizure of its spy ship Pueblo in 1968, will enthusiastically carry out a blockade.