Those naughty Norks have apparently been up to their old tricks again, caught red-handed in an attempt to smuggle missile components into the world’s second most odious regime:
The most recent episode began after American officials tracked a North Korean cargo ship, the M/V Light, that was believed to have been involved in previous illegal shipments. Suspecting that it was carrying missile components, they dispatched a Navy vessel, the destroyer McCampbell, to track it.
“This case had an interesting wrinkle: the ship was North Korean, but it was flagged in Belize,” one American official said, meaning it was registered in that Central American nation, perhaps to throw off investigators.
But Belize is a member of the Proliferation Security Initiative, an effort begun by President George W. Bush’s administration to sign up countries around the world to interdict suspected unconventional weapons. It is an effort that, like the military and C.I.A. drone programs, Mr. Obama has adopted, and one of the rare areas where he has praised his predecessor.
According to American officials, the authorities in Belize gave permission to the United States to inspect the ship.
Which that re-flagging thing doesn’t seem so clever now, does it Mr. Kim?
Thwarted on her course by McCampbell, the M/V Light‘s master refused four times to consent to boarding, and a forced boarding was rejected out of concern that the Norks had set up a provocation. After diplomatic pressure was applied on a gathering of ASEAN representatives in Washington, the Light turned tail and limped back home.
Would have been a shame had something fouled the screw(s) on the M/V Light…necessitating a tow…which would have been handily provided by the good ship McCampbell…to the nearest shipyard…which, by the way…Oh, look! It’s Yokusuka! Wow, Captain, you couldn’t have been any more lucky than that! They’ll be sure to get that little problem of yours sorted out in short order. Now, about that cargo inspection. If you’ll just sign here…
Ah for the days when the US Navy would fire a shot over the bow and sent a boarding party over. Wait, we’ve done that already. Lincoln and His Admirals by Craig Symonds covers this is great detail, as well as less reported flash-points.
Daniel V. Gallery wrote about a trickster US Navy in Cap’n Fatso. Too bad everyone at sea these days has videos, Inmarsat, and a press that roots for the Left.
Mongo, the mind boggles at trying to change the ROE and carry out the ol’ “wrap the VDS cable around the screw trick” in today’s administration. In my day the Navy would do that to the odd Victor III sub and we swore it was an accident. No permission needed!
Re: “Which that re-flagging thing doesn’t seem so clever now, does it Mr. Kim?”
The joke’s on us. Mr Kim has done this hundreds of times successfully since the passage of the PSI. I guess they lost their Belize contact, the only reason we were permitted to inspect that vessel. But that doesn’t keep them from flagging their ships with nations friendly to them like Syria, and so on…and if Syria doesn’t approve of the search no one can search it.
Liz, in re our general overall approach/handling of this on-going, erm, “problem,” can you pronounce the word FECKLESS?
Yes! Feckless is the word (had to look it up).
DPRK is so off the grid these days we’re left with a ‘one diverted vessel is a victory, a hundred non-diverted vessels are as statistic’ paradigm. The truth is too damned depressing.
I thought the normal result of a refusal to be boarded was to be receiving a warning shot prior to being hulled? Isn’t that how the Coasties generally do it?
Is the Coast Guard now operating under freer RoE’s than the bluewater boys?
Sarge: In broad and general terms, always has. They carry a blue light for law enforcement matters at the mast, and exercise police powers over merchant vessels. Of course, one might presume the interaction happened a bit off their beat.
“Licenses and registration, please. You appear to be in violation of SOLAS, we want to inspect your vessel to clear this matter up…”
Well, yes, Grandpa; but it was a US-flagged grey hull that was bearing authorization from the ship’s official country-of-origin, per the story.
I’d think any ship that refused boarding by a duly-authorized representative of their flag-of-registry would be legitimately assumed to not be under the control of her proper master. That is to say, presumed a victim of mutiny or piracy and thus fair game upon the high seas.
Boom. Gurgle. Issue resolved.
New, improved ROE for Nork shipping encountered asea.
1. Message/hail to ‘heave to’.
2. Repeat step 1. (Just in case they didn’t hear).
3. Mark 46 amidships.
4. Recover survivors (if time available, but NOT REQUIRED).
ZSSG, why, if we did that the average intelligence of the human race would go up a fraction. We can’t have that. /s
I concur, Zippr. Those guys are not acting like normal decent reasonable folks. Had they not cut off all communications with the mostly-normal humans, they might begin to understand what outliers they are, among the human race. Do y’all know that they are generally shorter than the South Koreans, because they don’t get enough to eat?
That’s actually the result of an intentional breeing program; makes their soldiers smaller targets.
When USS OMAHA and USS SOMERS met an oddly behaving ship in the South Atlantic in November 1941, that claimed to be the US registered ship, WILLMOTO, they decided that they would stop her as a suspected slaver, and discovered, as she tried to scuttle herself, that she was the German blockade runner, ODENWALD. I suspect that there are many ships out there, that are probably carrying slaves, and need to be stopped and searched.