No Legal Grounds for Stopping N. Korean Ships

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, July 12, 2003

No Legal Grounds for Stopping N. Korean Ships

An 11-nation meeting on stopping the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction (WDM) on Wednesday and Thursday in Brisbane, Australia, has pinpointed new targets to shoot at.

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An 11-nation meeting on stopping the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction (WDM) on Wednesday and Thursday in Brisbane, Australia, has pinpointed new targets to shoot at.

The 11 nations at the meeting included the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Australia.

The gathering was a follow-up to a June meeting in Madrid where the 11 nations endorsed an initiative under which ships suspected of being involved in the illegal trade of weapons will be detained and aircraft grounded.

The initiative is US President George W. Bush's latest attempt to create a multilateral setting - other than the United Nations (UN) - to prevent countries such as Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from importing or exporting nuclear materials, ballistic missiles or other technologies of mass destruction.

The setting is part of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) the Bush administration put forward when the US president visited Poland in May.

Though no timetable for launching the initiative emerged from the meeting, the message it sent is dangerous.

The initiative is aimed at setting up "some other structure outside the formal system" as PSI Chairman Paul O'Sullivan said. Stopping the proliferation of WMDs is a global issue, and counts on joint efforts from the international community.

The US-led initiative sneered at the UN and international law by sidestepping the organization. The UN is expected to serve as a centre to harmonize the actions of nations and provide an efficient forum for negotiating on complex issues.

Stopping a ship and seizing its cargo in international waters will still require the consent of the country where the vessel is registered.

The legal situations under which stopping and searching ships are well-defined: Either the interdiction is justified under a UN Security Council resolution, the ship is suspected of piracy, the ship is not flying a flag, or the ship is within a nation's 12 nautical mile territorial sea zone.

The PSI seems to indicate that interdictions would be systematic and could extend to the high seas. Such interdictions raise legal concerns, because in those bodies of water the traditional right to the freedom of navigation is to be respected by all countries under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Interdiction is seen as an alternative to economic sanctions. However, the DPRK considers the interdiction of its ships and planes as acts of war.

Armed conflicts are possible if the legally-controversial detention and searching of vessels occur.

But the United States seems to be determined.

John Bolton, US undersecretary for arms control and international security, who is also the country's delegation leader to the Brisbane meeting, expected a maritime exercise could take place soon after another meeting on the PSI in September.

The UN and international law are being put at stake again, while the case for the war against Iraq is falling apart. (China Daily News)

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