Defector sheds light on N Korea’s nuclear force
FT.com / World / Asia-Pacific - Defector sheds light on N Korea’s nuclear force: "Defector sheds light on N Korea’s nuclear force
By Anna Fifield in Seoul
Published: July 19 2005 10:47 | Last updated: July 19 2005 10:47
North Korea NuclearA North Korean parliamentarian who defected to the South says Kim Jong-il’s regime has made a one-tonne nuclear bomb and is working on lighter weapons that could be fired more reliably, according to a South Korean magazine.
The defector, who was a deputy in Supreme People's Assembly, also claimed to have visited Taiwan to tout North Korean-built missiles.
The report, in the Monthly Chosun, part of one of South Korea’s leading newspapers, supports assumptions that North Korea is not bluffing over its claim to be a nuclear state and is taking steps to ensure it can transport weapons.
Beijing is meanwhile likely to be alarmed by the suggestion that Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory, was approached about buying missiles.
The magazine said the man, who is using the alias Kim Il-do and believed to be in his early 70s, applied for political asylum in South Korea from a third country in May and was now being questioned by the South’s National Intelligence Service.
“North Korea has built a one-tonne nuclear bomb with 4kg of plutonium,” the magazine quoted Kim Il-do as telling the NIS. “North Korean scientists have told Kim Jong-il that the nuclear weapon is functioning, but they are actually skeptical about its performance.”
Kim Il-do said North Korea was now trying to make miniaturised 500kg nuclear warheads because it doubted whether the one-tonne weapons would work properly.
He also reportedly told the intelligence service that Pyongyang was developing small submersible boats and stealth uniforms for soldiers that would be difficult to detect by radar, as well as “special weapons” for its 30,000-strong special forces.
The magazine said Kim Il-do served in the 11th Supreme People's Assembly, which runs from August 2003 to July 2008, and was involved with the Maritime Industry Research Institute, which is devoted to the development and sale of arms.
The Monthly Chosun said it had confirmed the defection through multiple sources within the NIS but the details remained sketchy. Some government officials are known to have grave doubts about the veracity of the Taiwan claim in particular, and have suggested it was many years since the man was a deputy in the assembly.
South Korean intelligence officials on Tuesday declined to comment on the report.
Kim Il-do, who is said to have attended school in South Korea but moved to the North during the 1950-53 Korean war, would be the second highest North Korean official to defect to South Korea.
Hwang Jang-yop, a close aide to Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il’s father, and the architect of North Korea's isolationist “juche” ideology, sought asylum in South Korea in 1997.
He has since become an invaluable source of information to South Korean intelligence services and has become a staunch proponent of cutting off North Korea in order to bring down the communist state.
Mr Hwang’s defection through Beijing caused a sensation at the time, because he and fellow party member Kim Dok-hong were the most senior officials to have defected from the reclusive state. They have spent most of the last eight years sheltered in the headquarters of South Korea's intelligence services in Seoul, protected by bodyguards.
"
By Anna Fifield in Seoul
Published: July 19 2005 10:47 | Last updated: July 19 2005 10:47
North Korea NuclearA North Korean parliamentarian who defected to the South says Kim Jong-il’s regime has made a one-tonne nuclear bomb and is working on lighter weapons that could be fired more reliably, according to a South Korean magazine.
The defector, who was a deputy in Supreme People's Assembly, also claimed to have visited Taiwan to tout North Korean-built missiles.
The report, in the Monthly Chosun, part of one of South Korea’s leading newspapers, supports assumptions that North Korea is not bluffing over its claim to be a nuclear state and is taking steps to ensure it can transport weapons.
Beijing is meanwhile likely to be alarmed by the suggestion that Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory, was approached about buying missiles.
The magazine said the man, who is using the alias Kim Il-do and believed to be in his early 70s, applied for political asylum in South Korea from a third country in May and was now being questioned by the South’s National Intelligence Service.
“North Korea has built a one-tonne nuclear bomb with 4kg of plutonium,” the magazine quoted Kim Il-do as telling the NIS. “North Korean scientists have told Kim Jong-il that the nuclear weapon is functioning, but they are actually skeptical about its performance.”
Kim Il-do said North Korea was now trying to make miniaturised 500kg nuclear warheads because it doubted whether the one-tonne weapons would work properly.
He also reportedly told the intelligence service that Pyongyang was developing small submersible boats and stealth uniforms for soldiers that would be difficult to detect by radar, as well as “special weapons” for its 30,000-strong special forces.
The magazine said Kim Il-do served in the 11th Supreme People's Assembly, which runs from August 2003 to July 2008, and was involved with the Maritime Industry Research Institute, which is devoted to the development and sale of arms.
The Monthly Chosun said it had confirmed the defection through multiple sources within the NIS but the details remained sketchy. Some government officials are known to have grave doubts about the veracity of the Taiwan claim in particular, and have suggested it was many years since the man was a deputy in the assembly.
South Korean intelligence officials on Tuesday declined to comment on the report.
Kim Il-do, who is said to have attended school in South Korea but moved to the North during the 1950-53 Korean war, would be the second highest North Korean official to defect to South Korea.
Hwang Jang-yop, a close aide to Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il’s father, and the architect of North Korea's isolationist “juche” ideology, sought asylum in South Korea in 1997.
He has since become an invaluable source of information to South Korean intelligence services and has become a staunch proponent of cutting off North Korea in order to bring down the communist state.
Mr Hwang’s defection through Beijing caused a sensation at the time, because he and fellow party member Kim Dok-hong were the most senior officials to have defected from the reclusive state. They have spent most of the last eight years sheltered in the headquarters of South Korea's intelligence services in Seoul, protected by bodyguards.
"
posted by Greta Jane at Friday, July 22, 2005
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