Retiring MDA Head: North Korean Missiles Improved “Significantly”
July 1, 2004 :: Bloomberg :: News
Air Force Lieutenant General Ronald Kadish, retiring as head of the Missile Defense Agency this week, has now commented that North Korea has “significantly” improved its long and short-range missiles, despite a 1999 moratorium on actual testing. The developments are not completely gradual; Kadish noted that North Korea’s missile development has “progressed significantly over the last six months,” and added that “Events have occurred that show us that they are working toward having a ballistic missile capability of all ranges across a broad front.”
General Kadish is set to retire from the MDA in September. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: North Korea
Report: North Korea Opens Round of Nuclear Talks with Short Range Missile Test
June 28, 2004 :: Reuters :: News
The Sankei Shimbun Japanese newspaper and the Kyodo news service reports that North Korea opened a round of nuclear talks with a test of a short-range ballistic missile. The test launch apparently took place from North Korea’s South Hamgyeong Province, involved a mobile launcher, and traveled some 200 kilometers. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: North Korea, Testing - Foreign
North Korea Threatens Nuclear Test
June 25, 2004 :: London Guardian :: News
North Korea has threatened to test one of its nuclear weapons if the United States does not accede to its various demands in exchange for (again) freezing its nuclear program. The threat comes in the midst of the multi-nation talks over the North’s nuclear programs, North Korea’s accusation that the United States is pursuing a hostile policy, and Russia and China both defending the small communist country, and warning that their missile and nuclear threat should not be exaggerated. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: North Korea, Nuclear Weapons
Russia Continues to Downplay North Korean Missile Threat
June 23, 2004 :: East Asia Intel :: News
Itself a primary source of missile proliferation the world over, Russia continues its efforts to undermine cause for the United States to deploy a missile defense system, by denying that a missile threat to America exists.
Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov is said to have told reporters on June 3 that “the missile threat from North Korea should not be exaggerated,” according to East-Asia-Intel.com. Trubnikov warned that Japanese estimates that North Korea had some 200 missiles was dubious—even though American intelligence estimates put the number at over 500 Scud variants and several hundred No Dong missiles, as well as a smaller number of missiles with more extended range. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: North Korea, Russia
North Korea Tests Missile Engine
June 17, 2004 :: News
North Korea in May successfully tested a rocket engine for its long-range Taepo-Dong II missile, reports the Joongang Ilbo South Korean newspaper. The test was said to have taken place in early May, at the Musudan missile complex, in the North Hamgyong province some 120 miles from the Russian border. The paper cited “multiple” diplomatic sources. The Taepo Dong II has been long believed to have a range sufficient to hit Alaska and the Western United States. North Korea is believed to have unsuccessfully tested a missile engine at the same, Musudan missile test site in December of 2002, when the engine failed and destroyed a missile launch pad and other parts of the site. (Article, Link)
» East Asia Intel report of North Korean missile engine test
» More stories on: North Korea, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: Taep'o-dong 2
North Korea Extending Range of No-Dong Missile
June 9, 2004 :: Middle East Newsline :: News
North Korea has extended the range of its No-Dong ballistic missiles to 1,500km, according to a report by Middle East Newswire, citing the Japanese business daily Nikkei Shimbun and other sources. The two versions of the No-Dong missiles have been exported to various middle eastern countries, including Iran, which is believed to have based its Shahab missile family.
The report is not, however, altogether news, given that the No-Dong 2 was already believed to have a range of 1,500km. Since the article does not specify, it may refer to difference between the No-Dong 1 and the No-Dong 2. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: North Korea
» Missile details: No-dong 1, No-dong 2
North Korean Missile Moratorium Meaningless, if Iran Sharing Test Data
May 28, 2004 :: Kyodo :: News
On May 22, North Korea’s Kim Jong Il pledged to Japan that the communist country would maintain a moratorium on its ballistic missile tests, but a report by the Japanese Kyodo news service calls such a pledge into question, quoting a U.S. administration official saying that Iran is supplying test data from missile tests within its borders to North Korea, perhaps in exchange for nuclear technology. The unnamed official is quoted as saying that, “We’ve been concerned that maybe the Iranians are sharing data about their test with North Korea, perhaps in exchange for nuclear technology,” adding that a moratorium “isn’t very significant” if North Korea is getting Iranian missile test data. North Korea could be using data from Iranian tests to advance its own long range missile programs.
The fact that North Korea recently reported it would offer for sale its longest range missile, the Taepo-Dong II, and that Iran is a likely client, could also well indicate collusion to circumvent testing on the Korean peninsula. North Korea could sell The Taepo-Dong II to Iran and use the location as a vicarious testing ground, all the while being able to claim a moratorium of its own.
The Wall Street Journal reports on May 28 that Iran sent a response to the Kyodo news service denying that they were sharing test data. (Article, Link)
» May 28, 2004: Iran denies any military cooperation with North Korea
» Japan: Missile Testing would violate aid agreement
» Japanese Defense Chief: unable to verify that North Korean missiles not targeting Japan
» May 22, 2004: Kim: North Korea will maintain missile moratorium:
» More stories on: Iran, North Korea, Testing - Foreign
IISS: Iraq a Distraction from Larger Strategic Threats
May 27, 2004 :: Analysis
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank thoughtfully suggests in a recent report that the war in Iraq has overly preoccupied the United States, serving as a distraction to the more strategic threats from the weapons of mass destruction and missiles of Iran and North Korea.
IISS reports that the US had given primary responsibility for Iran to the European Union, and for North Korea to China—neither of which, one may speculate, necessarily has the best interests of the United States in mind—and that, as one might expect, neither of the two countries has chosen to follow Libya’s lead: “Instead, Teheran appears to be taking a harder line, perhaps believing that the U.S. is sidelined by Iraq and the presidential elections and that the Europeans are reluctant to press for sanctions in the Security Council.” A glance at recent news may well suggest that the same is true of North Korea. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Iran, North Korea
Proliferation Nexus Widens: Libyan Uranium from North Korea, Not Pakistan
May 24, 2004 :: New York Times :: News
As important was the revelation that the Libyan nuclear weapons program had sources in Pakistan via A. Q. Khan, the proliferation network may be yet wider.
U.S. officials had initially indicated that the uranium hexafluoride Libya had relinquished earlier this year came from Pakistan, but a story in the New York Times cites unnamed U.S. officials and European diplomats as saying that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found strong evidence that the 1.7 metric tons of Libyan uranium in fact came from North Korea.
Libya turned over a large quantity of uranium hexafluoride to the United States earlier this year, as part of an agreement to give up its nuclear program. U.S. officials initially identified Pakistan as the likely source of the material.
But The New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. officials and European diplomats, reports the International Atomic Energy Agency recently found strong evidence that the 1.7 metric tons of the uranium in Libya’s possession came from North Korea. The uranium was described as being unusable for nuclear fuel, but was enough material to make one nuclear bomb. The Times says that a new level of suspicion now lurks, that North may have sold uranium to other countries or to terrorists. (More »»»)
» Seoul embarrassed, concerned, at North’s nuclear promiscuity
» More stories on: North Korea, Proliferation
Messing and Keller: China’s Ulterior Motives for Covert Proliferation
May 18, 2004 :: Washington Times :: Analysis
F. Andy Messing Jr. and James A. Kellar of the National Defense Council Foundation write in today’s Washington Times of the palpable technological transfers from China to Pakistan, North Korea, and elsewhere, of which the most important are their joint nuclear and ballistic missile efforts. In doing so, they reinforce a point often made here about the real sources of proliferation: that upstart rogue state WMD and missile programs are not operating in a vacuum, but rather have received considerable support from Russia and China.
Pakistan, Iran and North Korea are all pursuing WMD capability. However, to address these countries alone is inadequate. It is akin to fighting a war on drugs by only pursuing the street corner dealer and neglecting Colombia.
(More »»»)
» More stories on: China, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Proliferation
