Fears that the North Korean cargo ship which had entered Indian territorial waters without permission was carrying illegal nuclear material now appears unfounded.
Fears that the North Korean cargo ship which had entered Indian territorial waters without permission was carrying illegal nuclear material now appears unfounded. Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta told reporters that the ship was carrying “genuine merchandise" but added that it had no business to be in Indian waters.
After questioning the captain of the MV Musen he told Indian investigators that the ship had developed a mechanical fault and came into Indian waters about 65 nautical miles south of Port Blair. Indian Coast guards who intercepted the ship had a problem communicating with the crew because the men did not speak English.
Alarm bells rang in New Delhi as soon as news of an unauthorised North Korean vessel entering Indian waters came to its notice. This is because of North Korea’s reputation as a major nuclear proliferators and a clandestine supporter of Pakistan’s missile programme, which it had bartered for nuclear know-how supplied by Pakistani scientist AQ Khan.
The navy’s fear that the ship could be carrying nuclear components is not surprising. North Korea has been blowing hot and cold on the nuclear issue, promising at one time to destroy its nuclear programme and than going back on its word. It is currently under UN sanctions for conducting a second nuclear test in May this year. Again in April it test-fired a ballistic missile despite international opposition. .
In the last decade, Indian maritime security authorities have seized at least two North Korean vessels for coming into Indian waters without permission. In 1999, North Korean vessel MV Ku Wol San was apprehended and found to be carrying 177-tonne nuclear components and manuals, though the ship’s manifest claimed it was carrying sugar and water purification equipment.
Ku Wol San was seized off Kandla and it was suspected to be transporting nuclear components to Pakistan’s Karachi port. However, the North Korean government claimed the materials were going to Malta and was meant for Libya.
In October 2006, another vessel M V Omrani-II close to Maharashtra coast, was stopped, the search revealed that the cargo hold was empty.
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