DPRK slams UN freeze on Mudubong cargo ship

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) slammed the United Nations Security Council on Friday for slapping sanctions on "Mudubong," a DPRK's cargo ship that has been held for almost ten months in Mexico after it struck a coral reef off the coast.

The UN Security Council decided to freeze the Mudubong ship on Wednesday because it believed the ship belongs to Ocean Maritime Management (OMM) Co., Ltd, a company blacklisted by the United Nations in July 2014 for shipping embargoed arms.

But the manager of Mudubong Shipping Co., Ltd., whose name was not given, claimed that Mudubong is a legitimate commercial ship operated by Mudubong Shipping Company and has no links to the OMM, according to the KCNA news agency.

"Our company is a corporate body independent of the Ocean Maritime Management Co., Ltd. as it is a social cooperative organization established according to relevant laws of the DPRK," the manager said in a statement.

"I vehemently denounce the step as a provocation of the hostile forces to lay a hurdle in our shipping business, a wanton breach of international law, undisguised disregard of domestic laws of the sovereign state and ... a grave encroachment on the sovereignty of the DPRK," the KCNA quoted the manager as saying.

The manager insisted Mudubong is "a peaceable civilian trading ship which has neither violated international law nor handled any prohibited cargo," adding that the Security Council has no justification to impose the sanctions.

The manager requested Mexican authorities to provide cooperation on the principle of humanitarianism in letting free the ship together with its crew members. Endite