Suspected North Korea weapons ship heads home

By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) - A North Korean ship tracked by the U.S. Navy on suspicion of carrying a banned arms cargo is expected to return home on Monday after a voyage that tested U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing Pyongyang for its May nuclear test.

The ship's return may decrease tensions that were raised after North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles on Saturday in an act of defiance towards the United States on its Independence Day.

The ageing cargo ship Kang Nam, which set sail in mid June, was headed back to North Korea and is expected to arrive on Monday, South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said.

Local dailies said it was headed for the North's port of Nampo after a journey that took it close to Myanmar.

A U.S. envoy coordinating the enforcement of U.N. sanctions on the North held talks in Malaysia with officials. South Korean dailies said the discussions focussed on possibly shutting down bank accounts used by the North for suspected illicit deals.

"The Obama administration has uncovered suspicious North Korean bank accounts in Malaysia," the Joongang Ilbo newspaper quoted a diplomatic source in Washington as saying.

A Malaysian official had described the visit by U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg as "routine".

Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said: "We are not going to act on every accusation that is being levelled at us because that would be virtually impossible but if they have evidence we will be most willing to work together to solve this problem."