30 NORTH KOREANS HELD AFTER $48 MILLION OF HEROIN SEIZED IN AUSTRALIA

SYDNEY, Australia - The captain and crew of a North Korean cargo ship were
charged Monday with aiding and abetting a $48 million heroin shipment in a
case that could highlight illicit efforts by Kim Jong Il's regime to prop
up the communist state's moribund economy.

The North Koreans were arrested after a five-day chase that ended Sunday
when Australian special forces troops rappelled out of a helicopter and
boarded the 4,480-ton Pong Su in heavy seas about 75 miles northeast of
Sydney. Authorities began pursuing the ship after it repeatedly ignored
police demands to stop.

Last Wednesday, four men - two from Malaysia, a Singaporean and a Chinese -
were arrested in the southern Victoria state and charged with smuggling
about 110 pounds of heroin that police say came from a dinghy that had cast
off from the Pong Su. They face life sentences if convicted.

Another suspected smuggler died trying to get the drugs ashore. His body
washed up on the south Australian coast near the town of Lorne.

Police last week said the arrests of the four Asian men went a long way to
smashing an international drug trafficking ring. They said the drugs likely
originated in the "Golden Triangle," the border region or Thailand, Laos
and Myanmar notorious for its heroin exports.

At trial, prosecutors likely will say if they believe North Korea was
directly involved.

The Pong Su's captain and 29 crew - all North Koreans - were formally
charged on Monday with aiding and abetting the import of an illegal good.
They were refused bail and were to due to appear in court Tuesday. They
were not required to enter pleas.

Scott Schaudin, a lawyer representing the North Korean crew, said Monday
the evidence against them was weak.

"On the facts that I read I thought they (would) have difficulty proving
their case, grave difficulty," he said outside the court in Sydney.

North Korea has in the past allegedly resorted to the drug trade to inject
cash into its flailing economy fund its huge army and expensive weapons
development programs.

Japanese officials have accused Pyongyang of filtering methamphetamines and
other drugs into Japan. They claim a North Korean government agency could
be behind the trade.

In March, Japanese coast guards nabbed a fishing boat that had traveled
from North Korea with a supply of drugs.

"It's nothing less than state-organized crime - to feed the Japanese
stimulants and put them out of commission," opposition lawmaker Takeshi
Hidaka said at the time.

In an indication of the sensitivity of the case involving the Pong Su,
Australia's prime minister, John Howard, was kept informed of the ship's
attempts to flee and police and naval moves to intercept it.

Howard has not commented on the implications of the crew's nationality.

"This sends a clear signal to international drug traffickers that
Australian authorities are determined to stop illegal import of drugs and
will do whatever is necessary to ensure that the people responsible face
the full force of Australian law," Howard said in a statement.

The 4,480-ton freighter was moored in a navy dock in Sydney Harbor on
Monday with federal police combing it for evidence.

When Australian special forces boarded the boat on Sunday they met with no
resistance, but the captain refused to cooperate as the vessel was searched
for weapons, Rear Admiral Rayton Gates, maritime commander of Australia,
was quoted as saying.