Panama Seeks UN Inspectors for Seized North Korean Ship

A North Korean ship stopped by Panama laden with fighter jets and other undeclared military gear will be opened to United Nations inspectors to determine whether the cargo sent from Cuba violated international sanctions.

Panama has 350 workers unloading the ship, which was seized July 15 on suspicions it was transporting drugs, President Ricardo Martinelli said. Instead, the vessel carried anti-aircraft missile systems, missile parts and two MiG-21 jet fighters stored among 10,000 tons of sugar, Cuba’s Foreign Ministry said in a July 16 statement. The hardware constituted “obsolete defensive weapons” that were to be repaired and returned, according to the statement.