Why was Cuba sending Soviet-era weapons to North Korea?

Panama intercepted an aging Korean ship with decades-old antiaircraft missiles and two fighter jets hidden behind bags of sugar

A long, green missile-shaped object is seen inside the North Korean flagged ship Chong Chon Gang docked in Colon City on July 16.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Carlos Jasso)

On July 12, Panama seized the North Korean cargo ship Chong Chon Gang as it entered the Panama Canal, working off a tip that the aging ship, traveling back home after a stop in Cuba, was carrying narcotics.

When Panamanian navy boarded the ship, the North Korean captain apparently faked a heart attack then tried to commit suicide, Panamanian officials say, and the 35 crew members started to riot, attacking the Panamanian marines, mostly with sticks, before being subdued and detained. After dragging the ship to the Caribbean port of Manzanillo, the Panamanians started digging under the 10,000 tons of unrefined Cuban sugar the Chong Chon Gang was transporting. They didn't find drugs.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.