Foreign Correspondence

[fuagf]

High stakes on the high seas in Korean blockade
(.. the first 5 words of this nip are revealing ..)

Confronting North Koreanvessels may involve Australia in a
challenge to the very law of the sea, writes Christopher Kremmer.
July 12 2003

Fresh from victory in Iraq, the Bush Administration appears to be gearing up for
more high stakes adventures, this time on the high seas. But intercepting ships plying
international waters - even rogue ships from North Korea - is a legal and logistical nightmare.

Washington's Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), unveiled by President George Bush in a
speech in Poland in May, aims to assemble a coalition of countries, including Australia, to "search
planes and ships carrying suspect cargo and to seize illegal weapons or missile technologies".

Aggressive interdiction is expected to target suspect air and naval traffic leaving North Korea, Iran, Syria and Libya.

Officials from 11 nations meeting in Brisbane this week agreed to begin joint military
training exercises under the initiative. Exercises could begin within months.

The trigger for the initiative was an incident last December in the
Arabian Sea involving a Cambodian-registered freighter, the So San.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/11/1057783354653.html
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N Korea says South exercises could provoke war
January 24, 2009

North Korea on Saturday denounced military exercises carried out by South Korea in early January as raising
tensions that could lead to a war. It was the latest in a series of recent rhetorical attacks on South Korean President
Lee Myung-bak and his administration by the communist North, which analysts suspect is trying hard to grab the attention
of new U.S. President Barack Obama. "The Lee group's act of escalating the military provocations against the DPRK
at a time when the inter-Korean confrontation is festering is as dangerous as adding fuel to the fire," the communist
party's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried by North Korea's news agency.
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/International/24-Jan-2009/N-Korea-says-South-exercises-could-provoke-war