maybe they really are part of an axis of evil

NK has been known for selling these Scuds on the black market to countries such as Yemen and Egypt. They're almost as bad as the Iraqi's.

A pity the thread's been spolit on this one as it's rather interesting. I must admit I was intrigued at the release of this information - Spanish ships actually did the interception -at just this time.
Plainly this ship will have been monitored from the moment it left port in either N.Korea or, possibly, China - by the S.Koreans, the Japanese and no doubt by satellite. Interesting that it was decided to stop the ship where it was stopped.
Now it is well known that the N. Koreans sell such hardware -it's basically an updated WWII V-2; but still a nasty device - to all manner of nations: Pakistan springs to mind, and if this is simply a military sale it's hard to see what anyone can do about it.
I don't see pressure on N. Korea as the issue: they really don't give a d**n and they have nothing to lose. I am guessing it was meant to tie in with Saddam's dossier and with the very peculair business in Kenya a few days ago.