(3rd LD) S. Korea watching as N. Korean ship carrying weapons seized

(ATTN: UPDATES with South Korean response in paras 2-3; CHANGES headline)
NEW YORK/SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) -- The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship
carrying North Korean weapons to Iran in violation of a United Nations arms
embargo imposed after Pyongyang's nuclear test in May, diplomatic sources said
Friday.
South Korea reserved direct comment on the report, saying only that it was trying
to confirm details through diplomatic chanels. The news comes at a sensitive time
when the North is reaching out to the outside world after months of hostile acts,
including missile and nuclear tests.
"We can not make an official comment until the U.N.'s sanctions committee
releases the results of its investigation," a foreign ministry official said. "It
will not be long before the committee takes some actions about it."
Despite the North's overtures, the United States has said it will continue
sanctioning the country unless it returns to the six-party talks and take steps
for its denuclearization. Pyongyang wants bilateral talks rather than the
multilateral forum, which it said is dead.
"The UAE government has notified the U.N. Security Council sanctions committee of
its seizure of a North Korean ship heading to Iran in violation of a U.N.
resolution," a diplomatic source earlier in the U.N. said.
U.N. Resolution 1874, adopted after North Korea's second nuclear test in May that
followed one in 2006, bans North Korea from conducting any nuclear and ballistic
missile tests while imposing an overall arms embargo, financial sanctions and
cargo interdiction on the high seas to prevent proliferation of North Korean
conventional weapons, as well as missiles and nuclear and other weapons of mass
destruction.
The sanctions committee will soon convene a meeting to discuss the issue, another
source said.
The seizure is the first of its kind that effectively intercepted a North Korean
arms shipment since the new U.N. resolution was imposed in June, although India
seized a North Korean ship off its coast earlier this month only to find no
weapons aboard.
In late June, a North Korean cargo ship, possibly on its way to Myanmar, returned
home after being closely pursued by U.S. Navy vessels.
U.N. diplomats did not reveal what the vessel seized by the UAE was carrying, but
reports said the ship, flying the Bahaman flag, was caught in late July carrying
rocket-propelled grenades and other conventional weapons labeled as machine
parts.
It is customary for any sovereign government to make its own decision to seize or
destroy embargoed weapons before reporting the outcome to the U.N. sanctions
committee.
UAE officials, however, may ask the sanctions committee what to do with the
weapons in consideration of the sensitivity of the issue, diplomats said.
Iran is one of the biggest buyers of North Korean arms, with annual purchases of
up to US$2 billion, according to statistics of the U.S. Congressional Research
Service report.
Iranian officials were said to be on the scene earlier this year, when North
Korea launched a long-range rocket and detonated its second nuclear device in
April and May, respectively.
Iran is also under U.N. sanctions for its nuclear programs, which the U.S. and
its allies see as an effort to build nuclear weapons, although the Tehran
government insists it is for producing electricity.
The UAE, meanwhile, is scheduled to announce a consortium on who will build its
first nuclear reactors by 2017. South Korea, the U.S. and France are bidding.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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