Pentagon: No decision yet on North Korean ship

WASHINGTON — The U.S. and its allies have not decided whether to contact and request inspection of a suspected North Korean arms ship that the U.S. is tracking, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Wednesday.

“That’s a decision that will have to be made at some point, and not necessarily just by us or this government,” he said at a news conference. “I think we will likely take (the decision) collectively with our allies and partners.”

He said he didn’t believe a decision would come soon.

Officials have said privately that the Navy is tracking the Kang Nam partly because it has been involved in weapons proliferation before and is among a group of ships normally monitored.

It is the first ship to be monitored under a U.N. resolution that bans North Korea from selling a range of arms and weapons-related material. The resolution allows other countries to request boarding and inspection of such ships, but the ships don’t have to give permission.

In fact, North Korea has said it would consider interception of its ships a declaration of war, and on Wednesday accused the U.S. of seeking to start another war.

“If the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will … wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all,” a dispatch from the official Korean Central News Agency said.

Asked for his reaction to the threat, Morrell said: “I don’t know how to even respond to such silliness.”

“Wipe the United States off the map for what and with what?” he said. “I don’t think I’m going to dignify that with a response.”