Cuba has admitted being behind a stash of weapons found on board a North Korean ship seized in the Panama Canal.
The Cuban foreign ministry said the ship was carrying obsolete Soviet-era arms from Cuba for repair in North Korea.
The ship was seized by Panama last week after "undeclared military cargo" was found hidden in a shipment of sugar.
United Nations sanctions prohibit the supply of arms to North Korea in the dispute over its nuclear programme.
A Cuban foreign ministry statement said Cuba reaffirmed its commitment to "peace, disarmament, including nuclear disarmament, and respect for international law".
It said the vessel was carrying 240 tonnes of obsolete defensive weapons - two anti-aircraft missile complexes, nine missiles in parts and spares, two MiG-21bis fighter planes and 15 MiG engines.
Cuba's admission that it was sending weapons to North Korea
for repair, in contravention of UN arms sanctions, explains part of the
mystery surrounding this ship. But other questions remain.
Why not simply fly North Korean technicians and parts to Cuba to fix them instead of risking getting caught? Avoiding detection was obviously the plan when the ship had its AIS automatic transponder switched off when it left the Panama Canal to collect the Cuban weapons in June.
The ship itself, the Chong Chon Gang, has been caught in the past carrying narcotics and has had encounters with Somali pirates. But this latest episode gives us just a small glimpse of some of the illegal maritime traffic going on all year round, unseen, across the world.
Why not simply fly North Korean technicians and parts to Cuba to fix them instead of risking getting caught? Avoiding detection was obviously the plan when the ship had its AIS automatic transponder switched off when it left the Panama Canal to collect the Cuban weapons in June.
The ship itself, the Chong Chon Gang, has been caught in the past carrying narcotics and has had encounters with Somali pirates. But this latest episode gives us just a small glimpse of some of the illegal maritime traffic going on all year round, unseen, across the world.
The Cuban statement said they were all made in the mid-20th Century and were to be repaired and returned to Cuba.
"The agreements subscribed by Cuba in this field are
supported by the need to maintain our defensive capacity in order to
preserve national sovereignty," the statement went on.Cuba said the ship's main cargo was 10,000 tonnes of sugar.
The vessel, called Chong Chon Gang, left Russia's far east on 12 April and travelled across the Pacific Ocean before entering the canal at the start of June, with Cuba as its stated destination.
Panamanian officials said the ship was carrying a cargo of sheet metal on its journey through the canal.
However, the vessel disappeared from satellite tracking systems after it left the Caribbean side of the canal, resurfacing on 11 July.
Experts say this may indicate that the crew switched off the system that automatically communicates details of their location.
Continue reading the main story
The Chong Chon Gang was searched on 12
July, with Panama announcing the discovery of "undeclared military
cargo" on board on Tuesday.
Panamanian officials tried to
communicate with the vessel, suspecting it could be carrying illegal
goods initially thought to be drugs.
The crew did not respond, so the ship was boarded and the weaponry was uncovered.Chong Chon Gang's route
- Departs from Nakhodka in Russian far east (200km east of North Korean border)
- Arrives at Pacific side of Panama Canal
- Leaves the Panama Canal on the Caribbean side heading for Havana, but disappears from satellite tracking
- Arrives back at Panamanian port of Manzanillo; later searched for contraband. Weapons uncovered
North Korea and Cuba are both nominally
communist, and a high-level military delegation from North Korea
visited at the end of June and was received by President Raul Castro.
Cuban media said they discussed "the historical ties that
unite the two nations and the common will to continue strengthening
them".Arms trafficking expert Hugh Griffiths told the BBC the ship's voyage could be seen in the wider context of renewed military co-operation between the two nations.
Announcing the seizure of the vessel on Tuesday, Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli said it contained suspected "sophisticated missile equipment".
He posted on his Twitter account an image of a large green object inside a cargo container.
Analysts from Jane's defence think-tank identified the object as part of an SNR-75 Fan Song radar, used to guide missiles fired by the SA-2 air-defence system.
The Soviets developed the SA-2 in the late 1950s but began to phase it out in the 1980s.
However, the system is still widely used in countries that were Soviet allies during the Cold War.
US ambassador to UN Rosemary DiCarlo: "Shipments would violate Security Council resolutions"
The crew face possible charges of illegal weapons smuggling in Panama.
Panamanian Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino said that even if the military cargo was found to be "obsolete", it was still "illicit" to carry it through Panamanian territory without prior notification.
Mr Mulino said that Panama was awaiting the arrival of a commission from the United Nations Security Council to help inspect the arms found aboard the boat.
He said two of the ship's five container sections had been searched so far. Earlier, officials said a full inspection would take at least a week.
The US "commended" Panama for its actions, and said it strongly supported a full inspection of the ship.
The vessel was stopped near Manzanillo on the Atlantic side of the canal last week.
Panama released details of the find on Tuesday.
