Foreign Correspondent
Inside Track On World News
By International Syndicated Columnist & Broadcaster
Eric Margolis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
www.foreigncorrespondent.com
The Legacy of Kim Il-Sung
By Eric Margolis
July 11, 1999
Flowers and trees are miraculously blooming out of season in honor of the
fifth anniversary of the death of the late `Glorious Leader,' Kim Il-Sung.
So reports North Korea's state press.
The defunct Kim, who founded North Korea in 1945, was just named `Eternal
President' of the hermit nation of 25 million by his son and heir,
`Beloved Leader ' Kim Jong-Il, a semi-recluse who appears even more
bizarre and unpredictable than his father. Nor th Korea also used the
occasion to blast the US for `impudent interference, blackmail, and
warmongering;' roasted the hated Japanese for `militarism,' and warned of
nefarious South Korean plots. In short, more vintage weirdness from
dangerous, clearly p sychotic North Korea.
Meanwhile, according to the US Defense Intelligence Agency(DIA), North
Korea is preparing to launch a ballistic missile capable of hitting North
America. The new Taepodong-2 ICBM, says DIA, has a range of 4,650-6,200
miles, depending on the weight of the nuclear warhead carried. North Korea
fired an early version of this missile across Japan and into the Pacific
last August, provoking outrage in Tokyo and protests from the United
States.
This column, which has tracked North Korea's missile development programs
for the past decade, has steadily warned the isolated Stalinist regime in
Pyongyang was determined to deploy nuclear weapons capable of hitting
North America. To date, North Kore a has fielded over 300 Nodong 1 and 2
missiles. The 1,200-mile Nodong-2 can deliver high-explosive, chemical,
biological and nuclear warheads to all of South Korea, most of Japan, and
to Okinawa, the most important American base in the region. North Kore a
also has at least 1,000 Scud-B/C missiles, many chemical-armed, aimed at
South Korea, where 37,000 US troops are stationed.
Most alarmingly, the 3-stage Taepodong-2 ICBM, small numbers of which DIA
says are stored in underground tunnels, can deliver crude nuclear warheads
to Hawaii, Alaska, and all US and Canadian west coast cities, and, at
maximum range, as far east as Chica go.
The Clinton Administration, which is still committed to a US $6 billion
deal to bribe North Korea into good behavior by supplying it with
light-water nuclear reactors, oil, and food, is issuing feeble protests
over the impending Taepodong-2 test. Japan, w hich also pays North Korea
blackmail, is simply pretending the test won't happen.
But US recon shows the launch site being readied, and a new ICBM launch
site under construction near North Korea's northern border. In short,
North Korea is still spending hundreds of millions on missiles and
underground military facilities while claimin g its people are starving -
and raking in tens of millions of dollars in foreign food from credulous
donor nations.
What should the west do about North Korea's new ICBM's? If there ever was
a true `outlaw' state, it is North Korea. Over the past 30 years, North
Korea has repeatedly attacked South Korea, tried to assassinate South
Korean leaders, blown up airliners, co nducted terrorist attacks abroad,
engaged in massive counterfeiting, drug running, staged provocative
military intrusions into South Korean air, land, and waters, and armed
itself to the teeth. Per capita, North Korea huge, 1.1 million-man armed
forces a re the world's largest, and, in absolute numbers, are tied with
India for fourth largest.
North Korea's constant threats to `burn Seoul with fire,' or `exterminate
US aggressor troops in the occupied south,' and `punish Japan' demonstrate
the aggressive, psychopathic nature of Pyongyang's Stalinist leadership,
which has blackmailed the US and Japan for a decade. The thought that
this dangerous regime may shortly deploy nuclear armed missiles capable of
hitting North America is both terrifying and intolerable.
If allowed to field even one or two ICBM's, North Korea could increase its
monetary blackmail of the US, and force withdrawal of American troops from
South Korea, or even from Okinawa and Japan. In the event North Korea
implodes internally, or experien ces a coup, it is conceivable that a
clique of die-hard Stalinists could commit Korean hari-kiri by launching a
nuclear attack on the United States. If North Korea ever makes good its
vows to `liberate' South Korea by invasion, using Scud missiles carryi ng
chemical and biological warheads, Pyongyang's ICBM's will assure its
advancing forces are not hit by US tactical nuclear weapons.
Dangerous lunatics must not be allowed weapons of mass destruction.
Compared to North Korea's enrag�s, Iraq's Saddam Hussein appears a model
of probity and reserve. Disarming a sovereign nation is serious business,
not to be taken lightly. But the Unit ed States - and Canada, for that
matter - cannot sit back while their population is increasingly threatened
by an unstable nation that still worships Kim Senior as a god - the man
who started the Korean War.
The United States and Japan should order North Korea to dismantle its
ICBM's, under international inspection, or face immediate attack.
Destroying the deeply-buried missiles will be difficult, though new, deep
penetrator bombs are now becoming available that may do the job. Any
missiles erected on the surface, and their launch systems, must be
instantly vaporized. China will howl in protest - but better now than in
five years, when both North Korea and China will have scores of ICBM's
pointed at North Am erica.
Copyright: E. Margolis, July 1999
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