North Korea will pay a fine of more than half a million dollars next week for the release of a ship that last year tried to cross the Panama Canal with weapons smuggled aboard , Panamanian authorities said . Panama stopped the North Korean cargo ship , the Chong Chon Gang , in July and found undeclared weaponry from Cuba -- including MiG fighter jets , anti-aircraft systems and explosives -- buried under thousands of bags of sugar . The Cuban government said the shipment consisted of `` obsolete '' weapons being sent to North Korea for repairs before being returned to Cuba . But Panama said they violated United Nations arms sanctions on North Korea . Panamanian authorities had originally imposed a $ 1 million fine on North Korea over the shipment , which they said violated the security of the canal , a key waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans . That fine has now been reduced by a third to $ 666,666 , and the North Korean government has pledged to pay it next week , Panama 's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday . Panamanian Foreign Minister Fernando Nunez Fabrega said 32 of the ship 's 35 detained crew members would also be allowed to leave the country . The three remaining crew members face charges of threatening collective security , he said . Because it is pursuing nuclear weapons , North Korea is banned by the United Nations from importing and exporting most weapons .
Panama says it found fighter jets , explosives aboard North Korean ship last year . North Korea has agreed to pay $ 666,666 for the release of the ship , Panama says . Most of the ships crew members will also be allowed to leave the country . The weapons came from Cuba , which said they were going to be repaired in North Korea .