By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press Writer

SAN'A, Yemen (AP) - A missile shipment from North Korea (news - web sites) that was stopped at sea by the Spanish navy and seized by the U.S. military belongs to Yemen and must be handed over, senior Yemeni government officials said Wednesday.

In Washington, U.S. defense officials said the shipment appears to violate an agreement Yemen made with the United States not to buy such equipment from North Korea. White House spokesman Scott McClellan, asked if the United States objects to such a missile transaction, said "we are now discussing with Yemen what the next steps to take are."

The ship was stopped off the Arabian peninsula Monday, and U.S. officials said it was carrying 15 short- to medium-range missiles, similar to the Scud missiles used by Iraq in the Persian Gulf War, as well as missile parts and fuel.

The missiles were hidden amid a cargo of cement, Spanish Defense Minister Federico Trillo said. U.S. naval forces in the Indian Ocean were escorting the ship Wednesday to Diego Garcia Island, a British island leased to the United States as a military base, he said.

One Yemeni official told The Associated Press that the United States knew about the weapons shipment and that it was heading from North Korea to Yemen.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Americans also knew there was a long-standing deal between the two countries.

A second Yemeni official said that Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kerbi summoned U.S. Ambassador Edmund J. Hull to protest the seizure and ask for the return of the equipment, which was planned for "defensive purposes."

"The minister informed the ambassador that the shipment was bound to Yemen and that the missiles were only to be used in defensive purposes," he said.

The United States may have no choice but to release the missiles to Yemen, one U.S. defense official said. The shipment was destined for Yemen's army, Pentagon officials said.

In August, the Bush administration imposed sanctions on the North Korean company Changgwang Sinyong Corp. for selling Scud missile parts to Yemen. At that time, U.S. authorities asked Yemen why it bought the parts, and Yemen apologized and promised not to do so again, two U.S. defense officials said Wednesday.

Under the U.S. sanctions, Changgwang Sinyong Corp. will be barred for two years from obtaining new individual export licenses through the Commerce or State departments for any controlled missile technology items. The sanctions have little practical effect, one official said, because there is so little commerce between the United States and North Korea. But official said they reinforce President Bush (news - web sites)'s message that North Korea spreads dangerous technology.

The United States and other countries interested in preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction have banded together under the Missile Technology Control Regime to try to discourage exports of such technology.

North Korea was officially silent about the interception but said it had the right to develop weapons to defend itself.

"It is necessary to heighten vigilance against the U.S. strategy for world supremacy and 'anti-terrorism war,'" the North's official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said in an editorial. "All countries are called upon to build self-reliant military power by their own efforts."

The Spanish navy seized the ship about 600 miles off the Horn of Africa as part of its work with the U.S.-led anti-terrorism operation in the region. U.S. authorities, who had been monitoring the ship, later boarded it.

Trillo, the Spanish defense minister, said the ship was sailing without a flag and that Spanish forces approached the vessel and asked the captain to slow down. When he refused, the frigate Navarra fired three bursts of machine gun fire, one 200 yards off the bow, another 100 yards off, and then over the bow itself. No one was hurt.

Asked about the legality of the seizure, Trillo said "the ship without a flag is a pirate ship" and thus can be boarded by naval vessels.

Sharpshooters aboard the Navarra shot out cables running from the cargo ship's mast so that a Spanish helicopter could get close enough to drop a rope and let seven elite forces soldiers rappel down and board it, Trillo said.

The captain said it was flagged in Cambodia, Trillo said. He added that its last port of call was in China, but did not give further details.

The official Yemeni news agency SABA said Yemen's foreign minister sent a protest to Spain, saying it had broken international law.

Yemen has been a nominal ally in the global war on terrorism despite strained relations with Washington.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has tried to clamp down on militant extremists since the Sept. 11 attacks, including placing Islamic schools accused of teaching hate under government control.

Hundreds of foreigners suspected of links to armed extremists have been deported and hundreds of Muslim militants have been arrested.

Doing more will not be easy for Saleh. Yemen has for years been a haven for wanted Muslim extremists, and is the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden. Heeding U.S. pressure would require abandoning the go-slow strategy Saleh has employed since the 1990s in dealing with Muslim militants he once embraced as allies.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2002