A North Korean weapons shipment bound for Central Africa has been intercepted, in a breach of the United Nations' sanctions against the rogue state. South African officials told a UN committee that they had seized a container ship last November that was carrying parts for T-54 or T-55 military tanks.
The cargo, which was originally shipped by a North Korean company, was headed for the Republic of the Congo.
After being first loaded onto a ship in China, it was then transferred to a French-owned vessel in Malaysia before making the journey to Africa. The cargo was listed on the manifest as spare parts for a bulldozer.
However, the French crew is thought to have alerted authorities about the suspect containers.
A letter sent by South Africa to the UN Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee said that "the contents fell within the definition of conventional arms in that the contents consisted of components of a military tank T-54/T-55."
Note: 28th March 2011 - "In their hurried retreat from Ras Lanuf, government forces abandoned piles of ammunition. They included grey wooden boxes containing rockets but stamped as holding "parts of bulldozer", manufactured in North Korea.
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