Free Republic

China’s Communist Party adopted a secret plan in September to bolster the North Korean government with increased aid and military support, including new missiles, if Pyongyang halts further nuclear tests, according to an internal party document. The document, labeled “top secret” and dated Sept. 15 — just 12 days after North Korea’s latest underground nuclear blast — outlines China’s plan for dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue. It states China will allow North Korea to keep its current arsenal of nuclear weapons, contrary to Beijing’s public stance that it seeks a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. Chinese leaders also agreed to...

South Korea announced Sunday that it has seized another ship suspected of violating U.N. sanctions by selling oil to North Korea at sea – this time a Panama-flagged one. The announcement Sunday came just days after South Korea said it is holding the crew of a Hong Kong-flagged ship that allegedly handed over oil to a North Korean vessel in October. The 5,100-ton ship, named the KOTI, is being held in the western port of Pyeongtaek-Dangjin, maritime officials told Yonhap News Agency on Sunday. One official said the vessel has been blocked from departing the port since Dec. 21. The...

The crew of a Hong Kong-flagged ship that allegedly violated U.N. sanctions by transferring oil to a North Korean vessel in October is being held in South Korea until a full inspection is sent to the Security Council, officials announced Friday. The Lighthouse Winmore is believed to have transferred about 600 tons of refined petroleum products to the North Korean ship, the Sam Jong 2, in international waters in the East China Sea on Oct. 19, after leaving the South Korean port of Yeosu, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official told the Associated Press. The announcement came on the same...

China says it will stop importing North Korean coal, iron ore, fish and other goods in September as it implements UN sanctions. The UN Security Council, including China, backed a new resolution last weekend imposing fresh sanctions on the rogue state in retaliation for its controversial nuclear programme. The sanctions aim to block $1bn worth of North Korean exports - about a third of its total exports. The Chinese government said the imports would stop on 5 September. China is the country's closest ally, but has been angered by its missile tests and repeatedly pressured and berated by President Trump,...

More details were made available Thursday on the contents of a United Nations report which says that the Iranian regime is continuing to blatantly violate the sanctions which have been imposed on it. According to CNN, the UN report says that Iranian weapons which have banned for export under Security Council resolutions are making their way to Iran's close ally, Syria. According to the report, the UN’s expert panel found that Syria was the destination “of six out of the nine incidents of conventional arms transfers” by Iran that were discovered. One such example, says the report, was reported by...

WASHINGTON – With the president of France at his side, President Barack Obama declared Tuesday he hopes to have international sanctions against Iran in place "within weeks," not months, because of its continuing nuclear program. But he acknowledged he still lacks full support at the United Nations. "Do we have unanimity in the international community? Not yet," Obama said. "And that's something that we have to work on." Obama said he and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are "inseparable" in their thinking on the subject.For his part, Sarkozy told reporters, "Iran cannot continue its mad race" toward acquiring nuclear weapons.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Navy is monitoring a North Korean ship at sea under new U.N. sanctions that bar Pyongyang from exporting weapons including missile parts and nuclear materials, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

UN inspectors in Iraq spent their working hours drinking vodka while ignoring a shadowy nocturnal fleet believed to be smuggling goods for Saddam Hussein, a former senior inspector told the US Senate yesterday. In a move that provoked fury from officials of the Swiss firm Cotecna, an Australian former inspector detailed a picture of incompetence, indifference and drunkeness among the men acting as the frontline for UN sanctions. Arthur Ventham, a former Australian army officer and customs officer, joined the operation in 2002 and worked at various sites in Iraq and neighbouring states. He said that at Iskendurun in eastern...

Breaking, UN imposes sanctions on Iran. Waiting for Iran's response. Should be plenty of bluster from Iran's mouthpiece.

Iran refuses to halt uranium enrichment 22/02/2007 - 15:54:09 Iran continues to enrich uranium in defiance of a UN Security Council ultimatum, a nuclear watchdog said today. In a report to the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors, UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei said: "Iran has not suspended its enrichment related activities," and was continuing a variety of enrichment activities. The conclusion, while widely expected, was important because it could serve as the trigger for the Security Council to start deliberating on new sanctions meant to punish Tehran for its nuclear intransigence. RELATED STORIES:- 15:54:09 - Iran refuses to...

VIENNA, Austria - Iran has expanded its uranium enrichment program instead of complying with a U.N. Security Council ultimatum to freeze it, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Thursday in a finding that clears the way for harsher sanctions against Tehran. "Iran has not suspended its enrichment-related activities," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report. Although its information was based on material available to it as of Feb. 17, a senior U.N. official familiar with Iran's nuclear file, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the issue, suggested the IAEA's conclusion remained...

Iran 'failed to meet UN deadline' The report said Iran was expanding into industrial-scale production Iran has ignored the latest UN deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, a report by nuclear watchdog the IAEA has said.The report, written by agency head Mohamed ElBaradei, said Iran had not only failed to stop enrichment but was expanding it. The refusal to observe the Wednesday deadline could lead to further UN sanctions against Iran. The US described Iran's non-compliance as a "missed opportunity for the Iranian government and Iranian people". State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the UN Security Council should now consider...

New tensions over Iran's nuclear plans Analysis By Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent, BBC News website The aircraft carrier USS Stennis adds to US power in the Gulf The tension over Iran's nuclear programme is increasing, with its failure to comply with a Security Council deadline to suspend uranium enrichment. The UN's nuclear agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reported on Thursday that the deadline of 21 February had passed with no Iranian action. "Iran has not suspended its enrichment-related activities," the IAEA stated. The council had given Iran 60 days from the passage of resolution 1737 on...

US wants tougher Iran sanctions Mr Burns has backed the idea of "additional sanctions" Washington has said it will now push for tougher sanctions against Iran over its continuing nuclear activities.The United Nations Security Council gave Tehran 60 days to suspend its uranium enrichment programme. But the deadline has expired and a UN report is soon expected to confirm that Iran is pressing ahead with developing its own nuclear fuel cycle. US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns accused Iran of "brazenly pursuing" its nuclear ambitions. Mr Burns said that over the next few weeks there would be efforts...

IAEA finishes Iran report as EU readies UN push Louis Charbonneau Thu Sep 1, 2005 A report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog is expected to confirm Iran has resumed sensitive nuclear work, diplomats said, and EU officials meeting on Thursday were ready to take steps leading to possible sanctions. The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to deliver its latest report on Iran's nuclear program to 35 nations on the agency's board of governors on Friday or Saturday, diplomats close to the agency said. The IAEA has been investigating Iran's nuclear program for almost three years. It has found no...

UNITED NATIONS -- Iraq wants the United Nations to lift all sanctions and stop using the country's oil revenue to pay compensation to victims of the 1991 Gulf War and the salaries of U.N. weapons inspectors, Iraq's U.N. ambassador said Tuesday. Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie called sanctions "anachronistic and inappropriate" and said it's time for the Security Council to recognize that Iraq is a "much more internationally friendly" country that wants to be at peace with its neighbors. No longer needed, he said, was the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, which was responsible for dismantling Iraqi programs to build chemical...

Matthew Fisher National Post, with files from Agence France-Presse BAGHDAD - Inside the massive headquarters of Saddam Hussein's secret police, some Marines were having a bit of fun yesterday with the remnants of a statue of the Iraqi dictator. "Hello, Saddam. Can you hear me?" joked a corporal as he held up a huge ear, left over from a statue destroyed by civilians before the Marines had arrived. Other soldiers mugged with the dictator's mustache and an eyeball. The moment of levity was out of character in the complex on the eastern side of Baghdad, the very epicentre of Saddam's...

( KWIC Dec.17 Toronto ) The source from the Turkish state-owned Roketsan Co. has recently indicated to the public that fifty experts of rocket technology were sent to Roketsan Co. by China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation in November. They initially plan to stay there for at least half a year to help Turkey develop the WS1 rocket weapon system and to transfer the Chinese manufacturing technology to Turkey. According to the Headquarters of the General Staff of the Turkish army, Turkey has decided to establish a special military unit on the border and along the coast of...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United Nations Security Council's five permanent members have agreed on a new system of sanctions against Iraq, the White House said Tuesday.</p> <p>White House spokesman Ari Fleischer announced the action in Washington. "This is a step forward," he said.</p>