-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a prelude to war! Tuesday, October 26, 1999 KOREA North places new missiles near border ROGER DEAN DU MARS in Seoul -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just as the two Koreas began establishing diplomatic goodwill, the North appears to have committed an act of indirect aggression by deploying new ground-to-ground missiles closer to the 38th parallel. A report published yesterday in South Korea's largest newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, said the Rodong-1 missiles, which can travel about 1,000km, were moved to North Hwang-hoe province, about 5km north of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two nations. However, the report is not corroborated by other sources, the Ministry of Defence claims the allegations are false and unofficial sources who closely monitor the North Korean military say the missiles are in fact Russian-made weapons similar to Scud missiles. The reporter who wrote the story, Chung Kwon-hyun, insists his source, a high-level government official associated with the Ministry of Unification, had immediate knowledge of the missile deployment. Analysts suggested the Ministry of Defence may be privy to the intelligence, but is denying the report to play down anything that could interfere with Seoul's "sunshine policy". They said that if the report is supported by other sources and proves to be true, it could potentially dampen North Korea's enthusiasm for engagement. "It is difficult to know if the Chosun Ilbo report is true, but it might be a slight setback to the progress Seoul has made in soothing relations," said North Korean expert Lee Jong-heon. In the past month, President Kim Dae-jung's administration has made a series of generous gestures to Pyongyang in line with Mr Kim's "sunshine policy". It lifted a five-decades-old ban on North Korean Satellite TV, extended long-term loans to South Korean enterprises doing business in the North, and offered help to the civilian organisations trying to revitalise the Inter-Korean Co-operation Project. If North Korea needed more convincing, Mr Kim conceded to Pyongyang's long-standing demand that the National Security Act be revised. He spearheaded the ruling party's proposed revisions that remove clauses meant to intimidate North Korean sympathisers. Pyongyang has been under fire for failing to appreciate these acts of reconciliation. Still, it did invoke a missile moratorium on September 24, pledging to keep its missiles grounded so long as Washington engaged in direct dialogue. Meanwhile, other analysts and the local media, which virtually ignored the story, were hardly fazed by the report. "North Korea is always moving around their missiles and nobody knows where they are anyway," said a North Korean expert. "Kim Jong-il can move those missiles in a thousand different places and they can still hit anywhere in South Korea." The three-stage Daepodong-1 missile, which North Korea launched over Japan last year, has a range of at least 2,000km. Pyongyang is believed to be developing the Daepodong-2, which is expected to travel 6,000km, the distance from North Korea to Alaska or Hawaii. **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
