U.S. sees multinational approach to North Korea ship

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will likely agree with other countries about whether to contact a North Korean ship being monitored by the U.S. Navy, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said there has been no decision yet to hail the Kang Nam, the first North Korean ship to be monitored under a new U.N. security resolution that bars Pyongyang from exporting weapons including missile parts and nuclear materials.

"That is a decision I think we will likely take collectively with our allies and partners out there and make a determination about whether we choose to hail and query this particular ship. And if we make that decision, when and where to do so," Morrell told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.

"That is not a decision that's been made yet and I don't get the sense that it is imminent."

Morrell did not say which countries would be party to any decision. The U.N. sanctions, adopted this month in response to Pyongyang's nuclear test in May, authorized U.N. member states including South Korea, Japan and China to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo.

Separately on Wednesday, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy said in Beijing that the United States had assured China it would implement the U.N. resolution fully, responsibly and in concert with other nations in the region.

U.S. officials have not said why the Navy is monitoring the Kang Nam, which left a North Korean port a week ago. South Korean media reports have said the ship, a known North Korean weapons trader, is probably heading for Myanmar, while other media outlets have named Singapore as a possible destination.

Singapore's government said on Saturday it would take action against the North Korean ship if the vessel heads to its port with a cargo of weapons.

Morrell declined to discuss the ship's location or possible destination.

U.S. military officials have said the U.N. resolution would allow the Navy to search a ship only with its flag country's consent. But Morrell stressed that Washington has a common interest with countries in the region.

"The U.N. authorized all of us who have an interest in deterring North Korea from proliferating banned weapons," he said.

"And so it's not just us who have this authority or this responsibility. All members of the United Nations have that authority and responsibility. And it's not just us who are interested in North Korean ships."

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by John O'Callaghan)