N. Korea: Aussies Blow Up The N. Korean Heroin Ship(Chia Head lose a ship)

The North Korean freighter Pong Su is engulfed in flames after it was bombed by Australian F-111 fighters off the coast of Sydney on Thursday. The 3,500-ton ship had been impounded in Sydney Harbor since April 2003 after allegedly being spotted unloading a 150 kg shipment of heroin at a secluded beach there. Four sailors on the Pong Su accused of aiding and abetting heroin smuggling were acquitted and released earlier this month, but Canberra decided to sink the ship as a ‘message’ to drug smugglers./AFP

Definitely would be more effective to just blast them. Seizing or destroying North Korean ships should become general policy, they are used to carry drugs, counterfeit currency, missiles to Iran, etc. North Korea's only profitable businesses are illegal/and or dangerous to us, so it is perfectly legal and sensible, and would also severely hurt them. We do not have to attack them directly to topple the regime, it is fragile enough cutting all aid and destroying their ships might be enough.

From the AP:

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Today: March 23, 2006 at 7:6:23 PST

Australia Uses Fighter to Sink Drug Ship

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - A North Korean cargo ship seized after being used to smuggle heroin into Australia was sunk Thursday when the Australian air force used the vessel for target practice.

The Australian Federal Police said the freighter Pong Su was towed out of Sydney Harbor earlier this week, then destroyed Thursday by a bomb dropped from a F-111 jet fighter and sank 140 90 miles off the coast of New South Wales state.

The vessel was seized in 2003 after being used to smuggle in more than 275 pounds of heroin.

It had anchored off the southwestern Victoria state town of Lorne, while the drug haul was carried ashore by dinghy.

Last month a jury cleared the ship's captain and three officers of involvement in an international drug ring. The crew also have been cleared of drug charges. Charges against the remainder of the ship's crew were dropped in 2004.

It was not immediately clear if the North Koreans have been deported.

Four men who were involved in transporting the drugs from the ship to the shore pleaded guilty to drug charges. Two have been sentenced to 22 and 23 years in prison and two more are awaiting sentence. Their nationalities were not released.

The Australian government and U.S. State Department have said the case reinforces suspicions that the North Korean government deals in drugs to prop up its failed economy. The reclusive communist state, however, strongly denies such allegations.

Police commander Frank Prendergast said the sinking of the ship showed Australia's resolve to fight drug trafficking.

Probably, though the RoK would try its best to influence things. But this brings up an interesting question. Morality aside, Kim Jong Il and his like have wrecked North Korea, greatly reducing the threat it presents. China would not replace him with another Stalinist, China is is a million times better than the DPRK. A more sensible but still autocratic regime might be more of a threat. Of course it would be less erratic, and while still autocratic a relief to the citizens, who lived in the worst condition imaginable. But I will take the moralist side, and say it would be better.

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