The ship that was captured without a flag, came from North Korea, (originally described as a Cambodian ship) that had destiny the country Yemen. The ship in question had 15 SCUB missiles, which the Yemeni government later claimed as their own, so it is a ship from Yemen that would have traveled to North Korea, loaded the missiles and then returned (until being intercepted) to the coasts of Yemen. Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi explained that the ship carried a cargo belonging to the Yemeni army and its purpose was defensive but without clarifying the whole matter in question.