By I have speculated before that the Kang Nam I may have been dispatched in order to test the waters after the passing of the UN resolution, so maybe that is what it was doing?:
U.S. officials said Tuesday that a North Korean ship has turned around and is headed back toward the north where it came from, after being tracked for more than a week by American Navy vessels on suspicion of carrying illegal weapons.The move keeps the U.S. and the rest of the international community guessing: Where is the Kang Nam going? Does its cargo include materials banned by a new U.N. anti-proliferation resolution?
The ship left a North Korean port of Nampo on June 17 and is the first vessel monitored under U.N. sanctions that ban the regime from selling arms and nuclear-related material.
The Navy has been watching it — at times following it from a distance. It traveled south and southwest for more than a week; then, on Sunday, it turned around and headed back north, two U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence.
Nearly two weeks after the ship left North Korea, officials said Tuesday they still don’t know where it is going. But it was some 250 miles south of Hong Kong on Tuesday, one official said. [Associated Press]
One Free Korea has a few other options posted on why the Kang Nam I turned around that are worth reading as well.
1:43 pm on July 1st, 2009 1
"Testing the waters" is one way of looking at the issue. Another would be North Koreas throwing everything it can to make diplomacy almost impossible at this time. Be it the new US administration or the annointing of Kim Jong Un. A smoke screen of a higher order?
1:53 pm on July 1st, 2009 2
…or, while everyone and everything was focused on the Kang Nam I, the atomic bomb was shipped to China under a pile of coal to be repackaged in a Los Angelas-bound container labeled "lead-free toys".