US requests intensive inspection for container cargo into the country

U.S asked Korean government to discuss setting state-of-the-art security systems to inspect the inside of U.S. bound containers to hold potential cargoes bound for terrorist purposes in check.

According to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MOMAF), the ambassadorial party, Thomas C. Hubbard requested on July 30 that the minister of MOMAF, Kim Ho-shik, intensify the examination of cargoes bound from Korean ports to U.S.

The ambassadorial party proposed to install up-to-date security systems in the ports of Pusan and Kwangyang for cargoes bound to the U.S. to find out whether containers concealed weapons in them, revealed the ministry. The U.S. also asked to talk about dispatching inspectors belonging to the U.S. Customs Administration to verify the procedures on-site.

Concerning this, MOMAF said that the U.S. delegates requested that the Korean government help the Container Security Initiative (CSI) by setting up the security systems and dispatching inspectors to the site for short periods. MOMAF said that it couldn’t reveal its views on whether to accept the proposal or not because it would be required to discuss the issue with the relevant government bodies.

An official at MOMAF said that this offer from the U.S. seemed to be related with the reformed Port ACT in early July to not permit vessels departing from ports with lax security in order to cut off the possibility of terrorist attacks. He added that the U.S. offered similar ideas to Holland, Singapore and other countries.