U.S. seizes N. Korean ship involved in banned transports

摘要

The United States has made a highly unusual seizure of a huge North Korean cargo ship involved in banned coaltransports. But it's nothing new for North Korea, which has long gone to extraordinary lengths to bypass cripplingU.N. sanctions and earn the impoverished nation much-needed hard currency.The seizure, which was announced yesterday, comes at a delicate moment in U.S.-North Korean ties, with NorthKorea resuming weapons tests that seem meant to force the United States to ease sanctions. Whether itworsens those ties could depend on whether, as some experts believe, the North continues finding ways toevade the international sanctions on its exports.