Thailand Urges UN Action on North Korean Arms Cache as Cost Rises

“We hope this could be resolved very soon,” government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said in a telephone interview today in Bangkok. “Different government agencies are now asking us to pay for the cost of maintaining the plane and guarding the weapons.”

Thailand is aiming to contain diplomatic fallout from the seizure, which it undertook under a UN resolution passed in June 2009 to punish Kim Jong Il’s regime for firing a long-range missile and testing a second nuclear bomb. The resolution allows cargo suspected of containing weapons to be inspected.

The Thai Cabinet yesterday asked prosecutors to release the plane’s crew, including four citizens of Kazakhstan and one from Belarus, because the case “may affect the national security and foreign affairs of the country,” Panitan said without elaborating. Belarus and Kazakhstan have asked that the crew be set free, Panitan said.

The Attorney-General is set to decide whether to bring a case against the crew to trial on Feb. 11. A UN sanctions committee assessing the Thai government’s report is scheduled to brief the Security Council about the case on the same day.