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Aussie firm silent over N.Korea-Iran arms ship


An Australian shipping firm at the centre of an investigation into North Korean arms smuggling remained tight-lipped tight·lipped also tight-lipped  
adj.
1. Having the lips pressed together.

2. Loath to speak; close-mouthed. See Synonyms at silent.
 on Monday as foreign affairs officials probed allegations it shipped arms to Iran.

United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates, federation of sheikhdoms (2005 est. pop. 2,563,000), c.30,000 sq mi (77,700 sq km), SE Arabia, on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.  customs officials are believed to have seized containers from the ship ANL ANL - Argonne National Laboratory  Australia as it travelled from North Korea to Iran earlier this month.

The Australian government confirmed over the weekend that weapons including rocket-propelled grenades were found in the containers, in apparent violation of UN-imposed sanctions on Pyongyang.

A foreign affairs spokeswoman said officials were investigating if there had been a breach of Australian laws relating to the UN sanctions, which were strengthened in June after North Korea stunned the world with a nuclear test.

She said Australian laws backing the UN sanctions applied to the country's citizens and corporations anywhere in the world.

"In the event these inquiries reveal information which could reasonably be suspected to relate to an offence under Australian law, the department will refer the case to the Australian federal police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces it history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back ," she said.

The ship is owned by ANL, a Melbourne-based subsidiary of the world's third-largest container company, CMA CMA - Concert Multithread Architecture from DEC.  CGM (1) (Computer Graphics Metafile) An ISO/IEC standard format for 2D graphics images introduced in 1987. Primarily a vector graphics format for technical illustrations and geophysical visualizations, CGM also supports raster graphics and text. , which has its global headquarters in the French port of Marseille.

ANL business development manager Chris Schultz said the company was not making any public statements about the allegations.

"We're just choosing not to make any comment," Schultz told AFP (1) (AppleTalk Filing Protocol) The file sharing protocol used in an AppleTalk network. In order for non-Apple networks to access data in an AppleShare server, their protocols must translate into the AFP language. See file sharing protocol.  from his Melbourne office.

The vessel's seizure marks the first time a nation has acted on UN sanctions to stop the communist state's arms proliferation.

The incident is seen as an indication that North Korea remains set on exporting its military technology, long a top money-maker for one of the world's poorest and most isolated nations.

A new round of UN sanctions was approved unanimously on June 12, under Resolution 1874, in response to North Korea's earlier nuclear weapons test and missile launches.

The resolution included financial sanctions designed to choke off to stop a person in the execution of a purpose; as, to choke off a speaker by uproar.

See also: Choke
 revenue to the regime, called for beefed-up inspections of air, sea and land shipments going to and from North Korea and an expanded arms embargo.

Pyongyang in the past acknowledged selling military technology overseas, declaring it to be a sovereign right.
Copyright 2009 AFP Global Edition
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
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Author:AFP
Publication:AFP Global Edition
Date:Aug 30, 2009
Words:361
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