The Guardian 15 March, 2006
Pong Su crew found innocent
Jules Andrews
Elation and relief greeted the verdict of "not guilty" handed down last week in the trial of the Pong Su four.
The ship’s Captain, Man Su Song, First Mate Man Jin Ri, Chief Engineer Ju Chon Ri, and the Political Secretary Dong Song Choi had spent almost three years in detention and endured a seven-month trial on drug importation charges.
The prosecution had alleged the four were involved in a conspiracy to import 150 kgs of heroin into Australia.
In April 2003, when the Pong Su lay anchored off the Victorian coast, two men left the ship in a rubber dinghy to deliver the drugs ashore. One of the men drowned, the other was arrested along with three onshore associates.
The Pong Su officers, all from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, have continually maintained that the two men were not part of their crew, but were agents of the company that had chartered their vessel. They stated categorically from the start of the trial they had no knowledge of the drugs onboard or that the men had jumped ship in Victoria.
Speaking to The Guardian, the Embassy of the DPRK welcomed the verdict and denounced the continuing US propaganda war against their country.
"As consistently stated by the Embassy of the DPRK, the crew of the Pong Su are not guilty of the charges brought against them. This truth has now been made clear in the decision of the Victorian Supreme Court.
"This has been just another attempt by the United States to falsely accuse the DPRK of drug trafficking. However, the people of Australia have not been deceived, and neither will the people of the world.
"It is well-known that the United States itself is the biggest market and international conduit for the world’s drug trade. One needs look no further than their astronomical rates of drug-related crime.
"The DPRK, with its humanistic socialist ideology, recognises that drug use mentally cripples the people. Therefore we state adamantly that the production, sale and use of drugs are strictly forbidden by law, and against the nature of our society."
The officers of the Pong Su enjoyed a few days’ celebration and sight-seeing before flying home to Pyongyang.