Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

North Korea steps up combat readiness after US war in Iraq: South Korea


Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 07 July 2004 1628 hrs

SEOUL : North Korea has beefed up its combat readiness since the US-led invasion of Iraq, fortifying military facilities, digging tunnels and testing new missiles, South Korea's defence ministry said.

The ministry said in a report that North Korea had dug trenches and camouflaged bases near the front line. It had also been developing weapons of mass destruction at a five-megawatt nuclear reactor in Yongbyon.

"North Korea has been building up its combat preparedness along the front lines and in the rear as well," the ministry said in the report.

"Following the outbreak of the war on Iraq, construction projects have been underway at more than 80 sites to build tunnels and trenches and to camouflage (military facilities)," it said.

North Korea regularly accuses the United States of plotting a surprise attack on North Korea.

The report also said North Korea was seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction, missiles and long-range artillery.

"It is continuing its efforts to develop missiles, testing missile engines," it said, adding the North has also been deploying new medium-range missiles.

The North is believed to have 600 Scud missiles with ranges of between 300 kilometers and 500 kilometers (187-312 miles) and 100 Rodong-I missiles with a range of 1,300 kilometers (812 miles).

US intelligence reports say North Korea has developed ballistic missiles with a range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles).

"It has also been operating the five-megawatt nuclear reactor in Yongbyon," the South Korean defence ministry said in the report.

North Korea said in December 2002 that it was reactivating the reactor and other nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Pyongyang, which were frozen under a 1994 accord.

The report also said the North had been upgrading some 400 multiple rocket launchers, a major security threat to South Korea, developing new ground-to-ship missiles and building mid-sized submarines.

North Korea has accused the United States of fabricating evidence of North Korea's nuclear capabilities, drawing parallels with its failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

North Korea and the United States have been locked in a stand-off since October in 2002 when Washington accused Pyongyang of running a banned nuclear program based on enriched uranium.

At six-party talks in Beijing last month, the United States gave Pyongyang three months to shut down and seal its nuclear weapons facilities in return for economic and diplomatic rewards.

It was the first significant overture to Pyongyang since US President George W. Bush took office in early 2001 and branded the North part of an "axis of evil" alongside Iran and pre-war Iraq.

But Rodong Sinmun, the North's ruling party newspaper, insisted Wednesday that Washington's demand for the complete dismantlement of nuclear facilities was "nothing but a far-fetched assertion lacking scientific and realistic nature."

"This was what the US side used to disarm a country in Mideast last year. The US is mistaken if it seeks to get something from the DPRK (North Korea) by applying to the DPRK the same method it applied to other country," it said.

Pyongyang has proposed freezing its nuclear program and pledged to stop building, testing and transferring nuclear weapons, but only if Washington offers concessions.

- AFP