-Caveat Lector-
It's nice to know that appeasement works.
October 28, 1999
North Korea continues to develop missiles
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
North Korea has not stopped developing a long-range missile
capable of hitting the United States and is stepping up sales of
missiles and related technology around the world, according to
U.S. intelligence reports.
The Air Force National Air Intelligence Center, the U.S.
government's premier missile monitoring center, stated in a
classified report issued Oct. 19 that Pyongyang is "continuing
Taepo Dong missile development," according to U.S. officials who
have seen the report. They provided few details.
However, U.S. intelligence agencies believe the new Taepo
Dong-2 missile, which the Air Force center has classified as an
intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), could be fielded by
the North Koreans without any flight testing, said officials who
spoke on the condition of anonymity.
"They are still improving the TD-2 and proceeding with
development," one official said. "In fact, their level of
confidence in the TD-2 may be high enough to have it available
[for use] without any flight test."
The Air Force report is one of several fresh intelligence
reports circulated to senior Clinton administration policy-makers
in recent weeks indicating that the new conciliatory approach to
the isolated communist state is not working.
President Clinton lifted some economic sanctions against
North Korea last month. In exchange, Pyongyang announced it would
hold up plans to flight-test the Taepo Dong-2.
"For the first time in our history, we are within missile
range of an arguably irrational rogue regime," Rep. Benjamin A.
Gilman, New York Republican and chairman of the House
International Relations Committee, said during a hearing
yesterday. "Regrettably, we cannot defend against that threat."
In addition to continued long-range missile development,
U.S. intelligence agencies uncovered information about North
Korea's sales of missile and related goods to rogue states.
A Pentagon intelligence agency reported earlier this month
that North Korea offered to sell the government of Sudan an
entire factory for assembling Scud missiles, like those produced
in North Korea.
Also, North Korea recently supplied Syria with 10 tons of
aluminum powder obtained from China, another intelligence report
stated. The aluminum powder is being used by the agency of the
Syrian government involved in building missiles and other weapons
of mass destruction, said an official who has seen the report
sent to senior U.S. policy-makers.
Other recent activities by the North Koreans outlined in
classified intelligence reports include:
* North Korea last summer tried to ship missile components to
Pakistan but the ship was intercepted during a stop in India.
* In July, North Korea sent specialty steel with missile applications
through a Chinese company in Hong Kong to Egypt, which is secretly
cooperating with Pyongyang in building Scud missiles.
* Iranian officials recently traveled to North Korea to discuss
missile cooperation. Iran is building two types of medium-range
missiles, mostly with Russian and Chinese assistance.
* There are some signs that North Korea is assisting Libya with its
efforts to develop missiles.
* North Koreans are helping train the Congo military and may be paid
for the training with uranium ore from the African nation's
Shinkolobwe mine -- where fuel for the first U.S. nuclear weapons
originated.
The intelligence reports are unwelcome news for the Clinton
administration, which eased economic sanctions against North
Korea last month as part of a new conciliatory policy drawn up by
former Defense Secretary William Perry.
Mr. Perry, in a report, urged continued engagement with
North Korea with the goal of normalizing relations. His report
said the United States should eliminate sanctions against North
Korea in exchange for assurances that North Korea will not make
nuclear weapons and will not test, deploy, produce or export
long-range missiles.
The Perry policy-review team stated in its report that "the
urgent focus of U.S. policy toward the [Democratic People's
Republic of Korea] must be to end its nuclear weapons and
long-range missile-related activities."
One official said the recent intelligence reports are a
clear sign the new policy is not working.
"So much for the Perry approach," the official said.
A U.S. intelligence official said yesterday the assessment
of the Taepo Dong-2 is that it could be tested at any time, but
that so far the North Koreans have refrained from doing so.
"There are no signs," he said, of an impending flight test.
Another North Korean missile flight test also is likely to
scuttle international support for the 1994 nuclear agreement and
lead to rapid North Korean development of nuclear weapons,
administration officials have said. Pyongyang tested its first
Taepo Dong in August 1998.
A CIA report on foreign missile threats issued last month
stated that the Taepo Dong-1, with which the North Koreans
attempted but failed to launch a satellite into orbit last year,
could be made a weapon with a biological or chemical warhead and
could reach parts of the United States.
"North Korea is more likely to weaponize the larger Taepo
Dong2 as an ICBM that could deliver a several-hundred-kilogram
payload [sufficient for early generation nuclear weapons] to the
United States," the report said.
The report said that a two-stage Taepo Dong-2 could hit
Alaska or Hawaii and with a lighter payload, the western United
States.
"A three-stage Taepo Dong-2 could deliver a
several-hundred-kilogram payload anywhere in the United States,"
the report said.
Sen. Jesse Helms, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, said during a recent hearing that North Korea has been
"working overtime" on its missiles, including short-range Scuds,
medium-range No Dongs and long-range Taepo Dongs.
"One of our worst fears has materialized," Mr. Helms, North
Carolina Republican, said of North Korea's missiles.
Mr. Gilman, the chairman of the House's similar panel,
recently formed an advisory group in Congress that is assessing
the threat posed by North Korea's missiles and nuclear weapons
program.
"There is reason to be concerned about North Korea today,"
Mr. Gilman said during a hearing earlier this month. He called
the North Korean missile program "a clear and present danger to
our national security."
Mr. Gilman said North Korea is "arguably the largest
proliferator of missiles and enabling technology in the world
today," noting destabilizing sales to South Asia and the Middle
East.
"My greatest fear is that this unpredictable regime in
Pyongyang will combine its covert nuclear weapons program with an
intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking the United
States and our policy will have failed to prevent it," he said.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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