Panama to free N Korean crew

[PANAMA CITY] The authorities in Panama said on Monday that they would release 33 of the 35 North Korean crew members of a rusting freighter impounded more than three months ago for carrying a secret stash of Soviet-era Cuban military gear hidden under bags of brown sugar.

Neither the captain, who tried to slit his throat when the Panamanian marine police boarded the vessel, nor the captain's aide is free to go, said a top official at Panama's Foreign Ministry. The official, who spoke by telephone on the condition of anonymity because of ministry policy, said the two North Koreans had not cooperated and may still face criminal charges.

The Foreign Ministry official said the other crew members had cooperated, and that all of them had asserted that they had no idea the vessel was carrying military cargo. Two North Korean diplomats have been granted visas, the official said, to travel to Panama and to complete arrangements for those crew members to leave the country.