Pong Su Incident
|
|
The Pong Su Incident was a suspected case of North Korean government drug trafficking, involving the Australian seizure of a DPRK ship, the Pong Su. On April 16 2003, police in Australia observed the Tuvalu registered, North Korean owned freighter, Pong Su close to shore and followed two Chinese suspects on the shore as they left the beach and headed for a near-by hotel. The next morning, the two suspects were apprehended at their hotel with 50 kg of pure heroin. Then, in a search of the beach where the two suspects had been seen the day before, Australian police discovered the body of a North Korean recently buried close to a dingy. It is probable that the dingy had capsized while bringing the heroin ashore, drowning one of the North Koreans. Police also apprehended another North Korean in the immediate area. Unable to get back to his boat, he had simply remained in the area where the drugs came ashore the night before. A third ethnic Chinese drug trafficking suspect was also taken into custody.
Australian authorities ordered the Pong Su into harbor, but the ship attempted to escape into international waters. After a helicopter boarding by Australian Army Special Operations Forces, the Pong Su was brought into port. Australia's Incident Response Regiment was also deployed, indicating Australia’s suspicion of weapons on board. The ethnic Chinese suspects and the captain and crew of the Pong Su have been charged with narcotics trafficking. Most signifigantly, an official of the governing Korean Workers' Party was found on board, linking the drug shipment to Kim Jong-il's government. The Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer called in the North Korean Ambassador to lodge a formal protest.
On March 2 2004, the US State Department released a report using the incident to link Kim Jong-il's government to drugs trafficking.