U.N. to send investigators to Cuba over seized N.K. ship

A U.N. Security Council sanctions committee will send a team of investigators to Cuba later this month to examine the case of a North Korean ship that was caught carrying weapons from the Caribbean nation, a news report said Saturday.

The 14,000-ton Chong Chon Gang ship was intercepted by Panamanian authorities in July while trying to pass through the Panama Canal with a shipment of weapons suspected to be in violation of U.N. sanctions.

North Korea and Cuba have both said that the ship was transporting obsolete weaponry, including missile parts, MiG-21 aircraft parts and 15 plane motors, to be repaired and returned to Cuba.

North Korea is under a U.N. arms embargo and a wide array of other sanctions for its repeated nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

The U.N. Security Council's North Korea Sanctions Committee plans to send the investigators to Cuba around Oct. 21 to probe details surrounding the seized cargo and the reason for its transportation to the North, according to the Washington-based Radio Free Asia.

The investigation will take place at the request of the Cuban government, it added.

(Yonhap News)