US military sabre rattling is back….
Things just jumped up a bit against North Korea….
The Trump admin is going hardline with James Bolton as the admin’s national security advisor…
Trump can expect more action against Venezuela , Iran and other countries….
That?
Unless he pulls Bolton back….
U.S. authorities have seized a North Korean ship used to sell coal allegedly in violation of international sanctions, the first such move by Justice Department officials as they ratchet up enforcement efforts against the regime in Pyongyang.
Justice Department officials on Thursday confirmed the Wise Honest is approaching U.S. territorial waters, with coordination of the U.S. Marshals and the Coast Guard.
“This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service,” Assistant Attorney General John Demers said in announcing the seizure.
The 17,601-ton, single hull bulk carrier ship is one of North Korea’s largest, and U.S. authorities said it was used to illicitly ship coal and deliver heavy machinery to North Korea.
Media reports from last year indicate Indonesian authorities first stopped the vessel on suspicion of violating sanctions. U.S. officials would not say Thursday if Indonesia turned over the vessel.
The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution in 2017 banning North Korea from exporting coal.
In the summer of 2017, the U.N. banned all North Korean coal exports, but Kim Jong Un’s regime was able to trick its adversaries into accepting deliveries.
The announcement came just hours after North Korea launched a pair of short-range missiles, the regime’s second such test in the last week, and it marked an escalation of U.S. government pressure on Pyongyang — even as President Trump has spoken glowingly about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Separately Thursday, U.S. military officials conducted a scheduled launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from an Air Force facility in California. It was the second test of the U.S. Minuteman III missile this month, and the third this year, though the Air Force maintains that such activity is scheduled years in advance, and not in response to any world events…..