(2nd LD) UAE seizes N. Korean weapons bound for Iran: sources

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details, background throughout)
NEW YORK, Aug. 28 (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.

The seizure comes at a sensitive time as North Korea has begun a series of
conciliatory gestures to reach out to the outside world after months of
provocations, including nuclear and missile tests that prompted international
sanctions.
Despite the overtures, the U.S. has said that it will continue sanctioning the
North 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 diplomat 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 would 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.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)