Why do you say that? The Spanish Navy boarded a PRK ship off Yemen a few years back and I don't think anyone complained.
That was then...this is now...the Russians and Chinese will scream...count on it.
The political scene three years ago was *much* different than it is today.The anti-war Marxists hadn't gotten their campaign in full gear as they have today.
Three years ago,Bush wasn't seen by too many as being the most dangerous and murderous man alive.Today,most of the world believes that.
You obviously didn't get the memo that anything that the US Military does is both front page news and an outrage.
On 09 December 2002 the 3,500-ton North Korean cargo vessel, So San, was stopped and boarded about 600 miles off the coast of Yemen. This happened during maritime interception operations (MIO) in the Arabian Sea conducted by two Spanish Navy ships, the Santa Maria-class Frigate Navarra (F-85) accompanied by the replenishment ship Patino (A-14). When signaled to stop, So San attempted to evade capture, forcing Navarra to fire warning shots across its bow. Spanish Special Forces troops then conducted a hostile boarding by helicopter and small boat. The boarding team later found 15 disassembled Scud missiles concealed by bags of cement, bound for Yemen. US military experts deployed in the area were called in to further examine the cargo. US Intelligence sources had been tracking the vessel since it departed its home port of Nampo in North Korean in mid-November 2002. US officials feared the vessel was heading for Iraq or another rogue state. After urgent talks between US and Yemeni diplomats, it was allowed to deliver the weapons.
The ship was flying no flag at the time it was stopped and the missiles were concealed underneath a shipment of cement. The ship was being tracked by the United States since leaving North Korea and was apparently stopped by the Spanish at the behest of the US government. After determining a lack of legal authority to cease the missiles, the ship was allowed to continue on to its destination. The Yemeni government, which initially denied knowledge of the ship, promised that there would be no transfer of the missiles to another country or non-state actor. Also, Yemen had cultivated closer ties with the US in recent years by cooperating in the Global War On Terrorism. The incident raises the question of what US actions would be in the event of some kind of blockade aimed at preventing a North Korean merchant vessel equipped with a missile, such as the Nodong-B, from attacking the United States.
The North Korean ship that transported Scud missiles to Yemen in 2002 was also used to carry chemical weapons material to North Korea. The Sosan delivered several tons of sodium cyanide, an agent used in making nerve gas, for use by Kim Jong-Il's regime. The Sosan sparked an international incident when it was stopped by US and Spanish warships in December 2002 close to Yemen. The Sosan later went on to Germany, where it picked up the chemical cargo before returning to the west Korean seaport of Nampo in February 2003.
It ended up being released to continue on to Yemen, IIRC. I think it had scuds.