ABSTRACT
During early December 2002, multilateral forces tracked the freighter So San, of Cambodian registry, through the Indian Ocean. The United States suspected that the freighter carried weapons of mass destruction (WMD)-related items from North Korea to the Middle East. Nearly a decade earlier, proliferation concerns had led the US to pressure China to direct the freighter Yinhe to a Saudi Arabian port for inspection. When the inspection uncovered none of the suspect items (thiodiglycol and thionyl chloride), the Chinese insisted on an apology and compensation for the action (Winner 2005, 130-31). Would the US face another embarrassment with the So San (Ricks and Slevin 2002)?
