Two weeks ago, the Kang Nam, a 2,000-ton North Korean freighter, left a port near Pyongyang. This rusting hulk has been called a "repeat offender" by U.S. officials, being involved in past proliferation activities. U.S. satellites, ships and submarines are tracking the slow-moving ship, currently in the South China Sea. Its cargo includes WMD and/or related materials, reports suggest. The arms trade earns North Korea some $1.5 billion annually, funds the regime critically needs. 

The Kang Nam set sail just days after the U.N. Security Council agreed to (another) set of sanctions on North Korea, this time banning its arms exports. The freighter is believed to be headed to Burma. North Korea has used Burma to transit missiles to Iran, officials note. Since this latest U.N. resolution includes specific guidelines for inspecting and interdicting North Korean ships, the Kang Nam is a key test case.

The U.N. rules aren't advantageous, though. As part of the U.N.'s least common denominator approach, the resolution allows countries to inspect North Korean ships on the high seas only with the flag state's consent.  This is the Administration's preferred approach. But guess what? North Korea isn't going to say yes. A scenario could play out in which the U.S. requests anyway. North Korea refuses. Then once the Kang Nam stops to refuel, the U.S. pressures the port state to do an inspection, which it has the right to do.  Who knows what happens then?  Is China going to play ball?  The Obama Administration has no intention of forcefully boarding this ship. 

Hanging over the White House's planning is a 1993 incident in which the Clinton Administration identified a Chinese cargo ship as delivering chemical warfare components to Iran. After finally arranging for an inspection, the cargo was clean. Word is that the Obama Administration smells a North Korean set-up, and might let this one sail untouched. We don't want to "discover that old man Kim set us up to look like George Bush searching for nonexistent W.M.D.," notes an unnamed Administration official.  Granted, the intelligence could be murky, but talk about being a prisoner of the past!   

This isn't a "no-brainer" though. Any move with North Korea is high stakes. A forced boarding, especially one discovering contraband, might be violent and would be a serious loss of face for Kim Jong-il, who has said he'd consider it an act of war. At this especially tense time, there's some risk involved.   

But inaction has a price too. The most likely threat isn't that North Korea will launch a nuclear weapon. The regime's death would be certain.  It's proliferation, such as North Korea's construction of a Syrian nuclear reactor, destroyed by Israel in 2007. Or who knows what else it has proliferated?  Were the Kang Nam allowed to skate through, the "tough" U.N. sanctions the Administration touted will be publicly exposed as weak, doing nothing to deter North Korean proliferation. If we know that nuclear material is being transported, action is mandatory. In any case, let's hope the White House makes this call by working off all of the available evidence, and isn't concerned about not looking like the previous Administration.  
    
The latest is that the Kang Nam reportedly has reversed course, and may be headed back to home port, perhaps worried about a port inspection in Singapore or elsewhere. If so, call it a victory.