New N. Korean Missiles Said to Threaten U.S. Tue Aug 3, 2004 11:42 AM ET By Mark Trevelyan BERLIN (Reuters) - North Korea is deploying new land- and sea-based ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads and may have sufficient range to hit the United States, according to the authoritative Jane's Defense Weekly. In an article due to appear Wednesday, Jane's said the two new systems appeared to be based on a decommissioned Soviet submarine-launched ballistic missile, the R-27. It said communist North Korea had acquired the know-how during the 1990s from Russian missile specialists and by buying 12 former Soviet submarines which had been sold for scrap metal but retained key elements of their missile launch systems. Jane's, which did not specify its sources, said the sea-based missile was potentially the more threatening of the two new weapons systems. "It would fundamentally alter the missile threat posed by the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and could finally provide its leadership with something that it has long sought to obtain -- the ability to directly threaten the continental U.S.," the weekly said. Apart from targeting the United States, South Korea or Japan, cash-strapped North Korea might seek to sell the technology to countries that have bought its missiles in the past, with Iran a prime candidate, the article added. Ian Kemp, news editor of Jane's Defense Weekly, said North Korea would only spend the money and effort on developing such missiles if it intended to fit them with nuclear warheads. "It's pretty certain the North Koreans would not be developing these unless they were intended for weapons of mass destruction warheads, and the nuclear warhead is far and away the most potent of those," he told Reuters. NUCLEAR POTENTIAL UNCLEAR North Korea pulled out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in January 2003 and is locked in long-running crisis talks with the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea over terms for scrapping its atomic weapons program. The extent of that program remains unclear, although North Korea's deputy foreign minister was quoted as telling a senior U.S. official last year that Pyongyang possessed nuclear weapons. Jane's said the new land-based system had an estimated range of 2,500 to 4,000 km (1,560 to 2,500 miles), and the sea-based system, launchable from a submarine or a ship, had a range of at least 2,500 km. "If you can get a missile aboard a warship, in particular aboard a submarine...you can move your submarine to strike at targets such as Hawaii or the United States, just as examples. Whereas it would be much more difficult to actually develop a ground-launched missile to achieve that sort of a range," Kemp said. Until now only the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China have been known to possess submarine-launched nuclear weapons, although there has been speculation that Israel has a similar capability. Jane's said North Korea appeared to have acquired the R-27 technology from Russian missile experts based in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk. It said one such group was detained in 1992 when about to fly to North Korea, but others visited later. It said Pyongyang was also helped by the purchase, through a Japanese trading company, of 12 decommissioned Russian Foxtrot-class and Golf II-class submarines which were sold for scrap in 1993. It said the missiles and electronic firing systems had been removed, but the vessels retained their launch tubes and stabilization sub-systems. http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5860277 ____________________ Documents from the Defense Intelligence Agency tell where the subs came from and the relations between the benfactor and North Korea... The full set of documents can be found here... http://www.consortiumnews.com/moondocs/index.html
You've got to be kidding me, selling intact subs as scrap metal. How does that happen? Korea "hey, russia, que pasa, we need some scrap metal, can we buy some of your secret nuclear subs?" Russia "sure thing broham, we need some cash." Korea "thanks, *snicker* Russia "no prob, oh, please don't reverse engineer any of our nuclear secrets dudes." Korea "Come on, it's us, NK, we wouldn't do you like that." Way to drop the ball Russia.
W looked putin in the eye in 1993? while he was running the rangers? "It said Pyongyang was also helped by the purchase, through a Japanese trading company, of 12 decommissioned Russian Foxtrot-class and Golf II-class submarines which were sold for scrap in 1993."
Korean Missile Said to Advance; U.S. Is Unworried By THOM SHANKER ASHINGTON, Aug. 4 - North Korea appears closer to deploying a new mobile ballistic missile that is a worrisome increase in that nation's military capacity, but American government officials stressed Wednesday that the weapon could not reach the continental United States. The new missile is based on designs of a Soviet-era submarine-launched weapon, known in the West as the SSN6, which has an estimated maximum range of just over 2,600 miles. American officials first disclosed North Korea's efforts to develop the variant of the Soviet missile in September 2003. Fresh reports of North Korea's readiness to deploy the missile appeared in Wednesday's editions of Jane's Defense Weekly. North Korea does not have a submarine capable of carrying the missile to within striking range of the continental United States. Officials also expressed doubts that the North Korean government had developed the missile for the purpose of hiding it inside freighters to be sailed closer to this nation's shores for launch. "There is no way this can hit the mainland,'' an American government official said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Even so, the missile's development raises questions about whether Russian or other scientists had helped develop the missile for North Korea, which has a troubling history of selling its military technology on the black market. The new missile, if launched from North Korean soil, would be able to put American forces on Guam and Okinawa at risk. North Korea has already demonstrated the capability to fire ballistic missiles that can reach across South Korea and Japan. Reports of North Korean progress in developing the missile appeared in the South Korean press this past May, including articles that predicted that about 10 of the missiles and their mobile launchers would be ready by September to coincide with a North Korean national holiday. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/05/politics/05kore.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Yea! They can't hit the mainland. Whoohoo. (Tough luck for the Japanese though... serves 'em right for making stupid cartoons.) Man, it makes you feel good when an Administration spokesman insists in anonymity when claiming the mainland US won't be nuked by North Korea. Seriously though, I'm glad this administration is expressing doubts that the missles can't be hidden in trawlers. After being so sure of the WMDs in Iraq, I'm glad they are allowing nuance to take hold. I wonder what the Washington Times has to say about this...
Wow, I didn't even read that document. So the Subs were bought by a company that's an affilaite of the Unification Church of Rev. Moon.
Maybe that missile can't hit us, but others can... N. Korea Missile Can Hit U.S., CIA Says Feb. 12, 2003 JOHN J. LUMPKIN Associated Press WASHINGTON - North Korea has an untested ballistic missile capable of reaching the western United States, intelligence officials said Wednesday. The North Korean missile is a three-stage version of the Taepo Dong 2, Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said to reporters. It has not been flight-tested, Jacoby said, leaving some questions about the North Korea's capability to successfully launch the missile. CIA Director George J. Tenet, who joined Jacoby in briefing the Senate Armed Services Committee, also acknowledged the North Koreans have the capability to reach the western United States with a long-range missile. However, after their statements, U.S. intelligence officials said North Korea has demonstrated no new missile capabilities in the last year. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Tenet's and Jacoby's statements were based on the same information that led U.S. intelligence to conclude in 2001 that North Korea was close to being able to flight-test a three-stage Taepo Dong 2. Meanwhile, the U.N. nuclear agency declared North Korea in violation of international treaties, raising the stakes in the standoff by sending the dispute to the Security Council. The move could lead to punishing sanctions which the North has said it would consider an act of war. Russia and Cuba refused endorse the measure, saying the International Atomic Energy Agency's decision would detract from a flurry of diplomatic efforts aimed at easing the crisis. Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said the IAEA would continue to press for a peaceful solution, but he said months of intransigence on the part of North Korea's communist regime had left the U.N. nuclear watchdog no choice. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer also sought to downplay the statements on the missiles, saying they were reflecting old intelligence. He said, "This old news is why it's important to proceed with deployment of missile defense and also why the President is focused on multi-lateral diplomatic talks to deal with North Korea." An unclassified U.S. intelligence estimate, released by CIA officials in December 2001, said the three-stage Taepo Dong 2 missile was late in development and close to flight testing. But North Korea has held to a voluntary moratorium on flight tests of its long-range missiles, although officials say Pyongyang may renew testing at any time. The U.S. estimate said such a missile probably could carry a nuclear weapon-sized payload across the Pacific Ocean. "Technology and time means regimes like North Korea will increasingly have the ability to strike at the United States," Fleischer said . He said that is why President Bush supports building an anti-missile shield. "We do have concerns ... about North Korea's missile development programs," Fleischer told reporters. The revelation was certain to raise questions about Bush's priorities - and whether North Korea or Iraq pose a greater threat to the United States. Baghdad does not possess weapons that can strike America, officials have said. "They are both important priorities," Fleischer said. "The question is, what are the means best used to deal with each priority." He said diplomacy has failed to curb Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction program for more than a decade, thus Bush made military action a front-and-center option. "That's not the case with North Korea," Fleischer said, saying Bush believes diplomatic pressure can contain North Korea. Tenet said North Korea probably has one or two nuclear weapons. The 2001 U.S. government report said a three-stage Taepo Dong could deliver a several-hundred-pound payload from North Korea to targets about 9,300 miles distant - sufficient to strike all of North America. A two-stage Taepo Dong 2, which would be easier to use successfully, may be able to reach Alaska or Hawaii, it said. In 1998, the North Koreans attempted to put a satellite into orbit with the launch of a three-stage version of the earlier model of the Taepo Dong. It failed when the third stage did not ignite. Secretary of State Colin Powell, appearing before the House International Relations Committee, said the United States is pressing China to use its leverage with North Korea to persuade it to end its nuclear program. China is the main supplier of foreign assistance and energy aid to North Korea. "We are doing everything we can to persuade the Chinese that the problem in North Korea is not just a problem between North and the United States. It is between North Korea and the region and North Korea and the world," he said. link
Moon’s groups lure lawmakers to symposiums and conferences By Jonathan E. Kaplan and Hans Nichols The Rev. Sun Myung Moon is undertaking an ambitious and diffuse campaign to influence members of Congress, their top foreign-policy staffs and United Nations ambassadors with an ongoing series of seminars and junkets in New York and Jerusalem and on Capitol Hill. Groups such as the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP) the Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP), the World Culture and Sports Festival and the Middle East Peace Initiative (MEPI) — all groups that have been founded by or are directly affiliated with Moon — have lured lawmakers, congressional staffers and various countries’ U.N. ambassadors to their symposiums. But those organizations have not made their association with Moon clear to the participants before they accepted the glossy invitations, attendees say. At one conference, billed as a symposium between congressional staffers and U.N. ambassadors, Hill aides were somewhat surprised to be greeted at the New Yorker hotel by a gaggle of non-English-speaking Korean women. The IIFWP’s continuing campaign had its most recent Washington event last April, where Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor at large at United Press International (UPI) and The Washington Times; Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.); and the Rev. Walter Fauntroy, the former D.C. delegate to Congress, all spoke at a panel moderated by IIFWP officials. The “Capitol Hill briefing” was on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and was co-hosted by the World Media Association, an arm of the Washington Times Foundation. That symposium occurred one month after Moon — the controversial spiritual leader of the Unification Church and owner of a media empire that owns The Washington Times and UPI — was crowned as the Messiah in a Senate office building. Reports of Moon’s coronation sent lawmakers scurrying to explain their attendance and stoked a media maelstrom over the rather unusual occurrence of a congressional crowning. The Washington Post later reported that Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) had permitted Moon to use the Senate space. Since then, several members of Congress have said they were deceived by Moon and his offshoot groups. A spokesman for Davis said the Illinois lawmaker decided to sever ties with all Moon-affiliated organizations in June. Mike Leone, the IIFWP’s public-affairs director, said the organization does not hide its relationship with Moon, though he said he was not certain if Moon’s name appears on all invitations. “It’s not a hidden thing,” he said. “Certainly in the future, we are planning to organize seminars and symposiums with lawmakers, congressional staffers and other leaders, like the U.N. leaders,” he added. This June, the IIFWP gave its Good Governance Award to Julian Robert Hunte, president of the 58th session of the United Nations General Assembly. A congressional junket to New York City in April 2003 with more than 20 congressional aides, two lawmakers and several U.N. ambassadors provides some insight into the happenings at the IIFWP conferences. Participants were invited for a two-day program billed as “US-UN Symposium: Working Together to Solve Critical Global Problems.” Aides to Reps. Karen McCarthy (D-Mo.), Lincoln Davis (D-Tenn.), Lucille Roybal Allard (D-Calif.), Tom Davis (R-Va.), and Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) attended the event and Reps. Davis and Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) addressed the conference. From the beginning, however, it was clear that this was no ordinary congressional junket. It featured a welcoming committee of traditionally dressed Korean women, who did not appear to speak English, greeting the Hill staffers. One congressional aide, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, dropped out of the conference the minute she learned that Moon was behind the group. “The first tip-off was little Korean women greeting you at the door and giving you a program,” the aide said, adding, “The second I walked in, everything was wrong, and I walked out.” “I got the invitation and was really excited about the prospect of having a dialogue between U.N. ambassadors and congressional staffers,” the aide said. “It had been duplicitously advertised, and I felt really duped.” The aide informed the conference organizers that she would be departing, and later refunded the cost of the trip with personal funds. She said she was shocked that others did not have a similar reaction and leave with her. “Plenty of other staffers there realized what was going on and decided to stay,” she said. But another participant, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the connection with Moon was not made immediately clear and that he continued with the program out of simple curiosity. “It was at this dinner that the presentations began, and where I heard the one and only reference to Reverend Moon — which was in passing. The emcee mentioned him in thanks for all who had made the weekend possible. But that was it,” the aide said. “They made no other mention of Reverend Moon the entire weekend. In fact, had I not been paying attention at the dinner on the first night, I likely wouldn’t have heard it at all.” In another odd departure from a typical junket, IIFWP officials wanted staffers to share rooms to foster a “spirit of community and cooperation that the U.N. espouses,” according to the aide. The aide recalled that several men who excused themselves from the symposium that day to use the restroom were escorted in and out of the conference. “All of [us] found it rather odd,” he said. After dinner, Davis spoke and then a woman sang a rendition of Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings.” The next morning, the aides went to the United Nations for a tour and various meetings. Davis spoke at the breakfast Monday morning, April 28. The IIFWP’s website says that a lunch was “hosted by H.E. Dr. Abdul Mejid Hussein, Permanent Representative of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the UN,” where Weldon spoke about U.S.-U.N. relations and his efforts to improve relations with Russia and North Korea. http://www.thehill.com/news/080404/moon.aspx
