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Josh Smith News

16 Oct 2023

Fearing China, South Korea Targets Contractors on Taiwan Navy Submarines

Credit: Taiwan President Website

South Korean authorities cited the risk of Chinese economic retaliation when they charged marine technology firm SI Innotec last year with violating trade laws for its work on Taiwan's new military submarine program, according to a police document seen by Reuters and two people familiar with the matter.In a Feb. 17, 2022, affidavit to a judge seeking the arrest of SI Innotec executive director Park Mal-sik, police said authorities feared a repeat of the sweeping sanctions imposed by Beijing in 2016, after Seoul decided to install THAAD, a U.S. anti-missile system.

08 Sep 2023

North Korea Is Growing Its Navy with Submarines and Nuclear Drones. But Why?

© ImageBoost / Adobe Stock

Over the past year North Korea has moved to boost its navy with new nuclear weapons, including an underwater drone, warships, and its first operational missile submarine, unveiled on Friday.North Korea's navy has historically been dwarfed by the country's land forces, and overshadowed by its rapidly advancing ballistic missile program.Now, leader Kim Jong Un has said the navy will play a key role in the country's nuclear deterrence, and analysts say it may also assure support among naval commanders and boost national pride."Until quite recently…

23 Sep 2022

US Aircraft Carrier Arrives in South Korea

Tugboats prepare to maneuver the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) to port in Busan, Republic of Korea, Sept. 23. (Photo: Leon Wong / U.S. Navy)

A U.S. aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea on Friday for the first time in about four years, set to join other military vessels in a show of force intended to send a message to North Korea.USS Ronald Reagan and ships from its accompanying strike group docked at a naval base in the southern port city of Busan ahead of joint drills with South Korean forces.Its arrival marks the most significant deployment yet under a new push to have more U.S. "strategic assets" operate in the…

12 Apr 2022

U.S. Aircraft Carrier Deploys Off Korean Peninsula amid Tensions with North

For illustration - U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Aleksandr Freutel

The USS Abraham Lincoln strike group is operating in waters off the Korean peninsula, the U.S. Navy said on Tuesday, amid tensions over North Korea's missile launches and concerns that it could soon resume testing nuclear weapons."The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is conducting bilateral operations with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in the Sea of Japan," Commander Hayley Sims, a spokesperson for the Japan-based U.S. Seventh Fleet, said in a statement.This is the first time since 2017 that a carrier group has deployed to the waters between South Korea and Japan, and comes as U.S.

09 Sep 2021

Smugglers Fake Ship Identities to Evade North Korea Sanctions

© Puchthanun / Adobe Stock

Smugglers suspected of evading sanctions on North Korea have turned to schemes to create fraudulent identities for sanctioned ships, a U.S.-based research group said in a report released on Thursday.Ships suspected of smuggling have long modified their physical appearance or broadcast false position data, said the report from C4ADS, a non-profit group.But the practice of "vessel identity laundering" is significantly more sophisticated and not only undermines sanctions, but jeopardizes the integrity of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) ship registration system…

05 Jan 2021

Iran Denies Seized Korean Ship and Crew Are Being Held as Hostages

Iran denied on Tuesday it was using a South Korean ship and its crew as hostages, a day after it seized the tanker in the Gulf while pressing a demand for Seoul to release $7 billion in funds frozen under U.S. sanctions.The seizure of the MT Hankuk Chemi and its 20-member crew near the strategic Strait of Hormuz has been seen as an attempt by Tehran to assert its demands, just two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office in the United States.Iran wants Biden to lift sanctions imposed by outgoing President Donald Trump. Tehran's critics have long accused it of capturing ships and foreign prisoners as a method of gaining leverage in negotiations."We've become used to such allegations," Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei told a news conference.

04 Jan 2021

S.Korea Reviewing Planned Diplomat Visit to Tehran After Tanker Seizure

South Korea's foreign ministry is reviewing whether a senior diplomat would be visiting Tehran on Sunday as planned, an official said, after Iranian forces seized a South Korean-flagged chemical tanker in Gulf waters and detained its crew.The incident comes amid tensions between Tehran and Seoul over Iranian funds frozen in South Korean banks due to U.S. sanctions. Iranian state TV cited a Tehran government official as saying Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun had been due to discuss Iran's demand that $7 billion in frozen funds be released.In Seoul a foreign ministry official told Reuters "the plan is unclear as of now" regarding Choi's visit.Iranian media said on Monday that Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps had seized the tanker Hankuk Chemi over pollution violations.

23 Jul 2020

Chinese 'Dark Fleets' Fishing off North Korea Despite Sanctions Ban

(Photo: Global Fishing Watch)

“Dark fleets” believed to be from China have been fishing in North Korean waters, potentially netting Pyongyang millions of dollars in illicit fees and forcing smaller North Korean vessels further afield, a series of reports said this week.The South Korean coast guard as well as independent experts monitoring the implementation of United Nations sanctions have reported for years that ships of Chinese origin have been observed fishing in North Korean waters, in some cases having paid to obtain rights from North Korean authorities.In several new reports…

14 Apr 2020

North Korea Test Fires Anti-ship Missiles

North Korea launched multiple short-range anti-ship cruise missiles into the sea and Sukhoi jets fired air-to-surface missiles on Tuesday as part of its ongoing military exercises, South Korea’s military said.The missile tests came on the eve of a national holiday in North Korea to celebrate the birthday of Kim Il Sung, the founder of the country and grandfather of the current leader, Kim Jong Un.Launched at around 7 a.m. (2200 GMT), the anti-ship missiles plunged into the sea more than 150 kilometres (93 miles) off the east coast town of Munchon…

04 Mar 2020

North Korea Caught Exporting Sand to China

© Yaniv / Adobe Stock

For several months last year, a steady stream of ships was observed dredging sand in a North Korean bay then transporting it to China, a Washington-based think-tank said on Wednesday.The extraction of sand from North Korea to China would violate a 2017 U.N. Security Council resolution that prohibits North Korea from “supplying, selling, or transferring sand”, the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS) said in a report.The group’s researchers tracked the dredging and transport of the sand through commercial satellite imagery and shipping databases.“Between March and August 2019…

22 Jan 2020

South Korea Anti-piracy Unit Heading to the Strait of Hormuz

© Nicolas Parneix / Adobe Stock

South Korea's military said on Tuesday it plans to expand the deployment of an anti-piracy unit now operating off the coast of Africa to the area around the Strait of Hormuz, after the United States pressed for help in guarding oil tankers.Attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran last year prompted U.S. officials to call for allies to join a planned maritime security mission.While South Korea, a key U.S. ally, will deploy its forces to the area, including the Gulf…

22 Jul 2019

Pirates Rob Korean Bulk Carrier

Pirates attacked a South Korean-flagged cargo ship in the South China Sea early on Monday, stealing thousands of dollars in cash and even the sailors' shoes, South Korean authorities said.Two people sustained minor injuries when seven pirates boarded the CK Bluebell and made off with $13,000 and belongings including mobile phones, clothes and shoes from the 22-strong crew, officials from the oceans and fisheries ministry said.Tougher policing has made piracy less frequent on the strategic shipping route in recent years.The dry bulk vessel CK Bluebell had set sail from its anchorage off Singapore on Saturday afternoon, heading northeast for South Korea's port of Incheon, Refinitiv Eikon ship tracking data showed.Korean officials said the ship was sailing normally after the robbery.The incid

21 Sep 2018

USMMA to Celebrate 75th Anniversary

(Photo: USMMA)

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point (USMMA) will celebrate 75 years since initial dedication in 1943, at homecoming this weekend. Events scheduled include a 75th anniversary dinner, the season’s first home football game for the 2-0 Mariners, a parade by the Regiment of Midshipmen, and the ceremony of Beating Retreat.“We are pleased to welcome alumni classes, families and friends for a jam-packed homecoming weekend at USMMA, especially the 75th anniversary events,” said George Rhynedance…

26 Feb 2018

US Prepares High-seas Crackdown on N.Korea Sanctions Evaders

(U.S. Coast Guard photo by Levi Read)

The Trump administration and key Asian allies are preparing to expand interceptions of ships suspected of violating sanctions on North Korea, a plan that could include deploying U.S. Coast Guard forces to stop and search vessels in Asia-Pacific waters, senior U.S. officials said. Washington has been talking to regional partners, including Japan, South Korea, Australia and Singapore, about coordinating a stepped-up crackdown that would go further than ever before in an attempt to squeeze Pyongyang’s use of seagoing trade to feed its nuclear missile program, several officials told Reuters.

29 Dec 2017

China Denies Selling Oil Illicitly to N.Korea

© Jess Yu / Adobe Stock

China on Friday denied reports it has been illicitly selling oil products to North Korea after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was not happy that China had allowed oil to reach the isolated nation. Trump said on Twitter the previous day that China had been "caught" allowing oil into North Korea and that would prevent "a friendly solution" to the crisis over North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes that it conducts in defiance of heavy U.N. Security Council sanctions. "I have been soft on China because the only thing more important to me than trade is war…

22 Dec 2017

UN: Fresh Oil Import Sanctions on North Korea

© Onur / Adobe Stock

(Reuters) -- The U.N. Security Council on Friday unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea following its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test, a move that analysts said could have a significant impact on the isolated country's struggling economy. The resolution seeks to ban nearly 90 percent of refined petroleum product exports to North Korea by capping them at 500,000 barrels a year and demands the repatriation of North Koreans working abroad within 12 months. The U.S.-drafted resolution would also cap crude oil supplies to North Korea at 4 million barrels a year.

20 Jun 2014

Titanic & the Launch of a Landmark Safety Agreement

Image: Public Domain

When the RMS Titanic made its debut in 1912, the ship epitomized everything new and advanced about shipbuilding and construction. It was the largest ship of its day, a steel-jacketed vessel that featured cutting-edge safety measures such as 16 watertight compartments, 15 bulkheads and 11 remotely activated watertight doors. The ship had her own waterworks, an electrical power plant more powerful than the then typical city power plant, and two wireless telegraphs. It was a sight to behold and a technological marvel, cutting a course away from the wood and sails of the shipping past.

16 May 2014

Elmer A. Sperry: Pioneer of Modern Naval Tech

“Here’s one of the best pictures of your father and at the same time one of the few which was taken showing him actually using the gyrocompass. I suggest you keep this for your records.”   Note to Elmer Jr. from  Robert B. Lea, July 8, 1937 (Photo: Hagley Museum and Library)

Elmer A. Sperry casts a long shadow over the history of modern naval, nautical and aeronautical technology, one few people know much about, but should, for a man crowned both the “father of modern navigational technology” and “the father of automatic feedback and control systems,” as well as a pioneer of rocket and missile technology. “It is safe to say that no one American has contributed so much to our naval technical progress,” eulogized Charles Francis Adams III, Secretary of the Navy from 1929-1933, on the death of engineering genius Elmer Ambrose Sperry, June 16, 1930, at 69.

20 Jun 2014

Disasters at Sea & Their Impact on Shipping Regulation

MV Argo Merchant was a Liberian-flagged oil tanker that ran aground and sank southeast of Nantucket Island, Mass., on Dec. 15, 1976, causing one of the largest marine oil spills in history. U.S. Coast Guard Archives

The history of marine safety is soaked in water and written in blood. “I think that most people will tell you that changes in marine safety are almost exclusively disaster-driven,” agrees Dr. Josh Smith, a professor at Kings Point and interim director of the American Merchant Marine Museum. It hasn’t always been that way. Actually, it’s been worse. Despite some efforts early on to exert some control over shipping practices, going to sea has been accepted as a risky undertaking as long as man has floated vessels.