American Military Vehicles Turn Up in North Korea

Aftenposten reports that the Norwegian government is embarrassed that six U.S. military trucks given to Norway have shown up in North Korea.

For decades after WWII Norway received US weapon and infrastructure aid via NATO, including several thousand American M-6 trucks produced in the 1960s.

In 2002 the Norwegian Defense gave 203 discarded M-6 vehicles to Norway's Red Cross and about 1,000 more trucks in 2003. Formally these vehicles were still US property and the transfer required US clearance, something which is still lacking, VG reported.

Norway's Red Cross has transferred many vehicles to the International Red Cross and six of these ended up in North Korea last summer. Even though these owned and administered by the Red Cross, the North Korean regime can reportedly used them when desired.

American authorities were reportedly surprised to learn this and are displeased that US-made equipment is in North Korean hands.

U.S. Embassy press spokesman Andrew Schilling said an investigation is underway. Apparently voicing a policy that it's not responsible for what it does, the Norwegian government indicated that the affair is between the Red Cross and American authorities.

So, if I understand this "affair" correctly, North Korea could very easily be hauling around material for its nuclear weapons program in American trucks. How neighborly.