New Missile Reported in North Korea California Is Within Its Range, a Defector Tells South Koreans

Paris, Saturday, February 19, 2000

By Don Kirk International Herald Tribune

SEOUL - A senior North Korean scientist who reportedly defected to the United States has told South Korean authorities that the North has developed a missile capable of reaching California, a leading newspaper here reported Friday.

The defector, Lim Ki Sung, said the missile had a range of 6,000 kilometers, 3,725 miles, far longer than defense experts had previously estimated, Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's largest newspaper, reported.

''That distance would be a really big development,'' said Cho Chung Pyo, assistant foreign affairs secretary on the staff of President Kim Dae Jung. ''That kind of capability was never previously indicated.''

The newspaper said that Mr. Lim, who is 59, had fled North Korea in December along with his son, 31, also a missile expert, and a nephew, 32, who had been a North Korean Army officer.

The three told a bizarre story of having decided to flee after Mr. Lim's wife died and a number of their relatives were executed, according to the paper.

They shielded their escape by planting the bodies of starvation victims inside their house before setting it on fire, burning the bodies so the authorities could not identify them and would believe Mr. Lim and his relatives were the victims, the newspaper said.

The three then obtained false Chinese passports and American visas with the help of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, the newspaper reported, and flew to the United States from Shanghai.

A U.S. State Department official refused to comment on the report, saying, ''We don't confirm or deny whether a specific individual may or may not have been granted asylum.''

The South Korean newspaper said the three had passed on vital information on the North Korean missile program.

North Korea launched a three-stage Taepodong-1 missile 1,380 kilometers that passed over Japan on Aug. 31, 1998, but it has refrained from testing a new version, the Taepodong-2, that intelligence analysts believe could travel farther.

Some intelligence sources have said the newer version could be capable of reaching Alaska or Hawaii.

The North has held out the threat of testing such a missile amid negotiations with the United States over lifting economic sanctions.

North Korea's missile capability has aroused concern in Japan and the United States largely because the missiles could deliver warheads bearing chemical and biological weapons.

U.S. officials have said that the North has stockpiled such weapons even though it apparently gave up attempting to build a nuclear warhead in 1994 after signing the Geneva framework agreement.

Cheon Seong Wun, a senior research fellow in the Korean Institute of National Unification, an adjunct of South Korea's Unification Ministry, noted that a number of North Korean experts had defected in recent months, moving across North Korea's border with China.

''Obviously it's embarrassing to the North,'' he said, ''but that doesn't disturb their missile option.''

He questioned, however, whether the North could fire a long-range missile with any accuracy.

''How can they go from 2,000 kilometers to 6,000 kilometers without testing?'' he asked.

Chosun Ilbo reported that Mr. Lim had said North Korea's missile technology was ''first class'' and that the 6,000-kilometer-range missile was ''apparently ready to fly.''

''North Korea is aiming at America, not South Korea,'' the newspaper quoted him as having said. ''North Korea has been nurturing the long-range missile despite hunger or hardship.''

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), February 19, 2000

Answers

the article states they can possibly reach hawaii, says nothing about reaching california, what gives?

-- lockandload (notinc@lifornia.net), February 19, 2000.

What's scary is that they planted the bodiies of starvation victims in the house. It appears NK's economy is so bad that people are routinely starving to death. Yet they build armaments instead of feeding the people.

Then there's Russia whose economy is also in the toilet trying to build up its military and entering into agreements with China.

We may be looking at the attack of the beggars.

-- JOHN (LITTMANNJ@AOL.COM), February 19, 2000.

If they roll the dice by themselves against us, they lose.

So, what motivation could hold them on this path? Nothing but madness could, if they were working alone.

But their motivations are a part of a large alliance.

They may be small country with everything to lose, but then we only have one west coast. Threatening it could be their assignment.

I wonder what Libya is up to these days?

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), February 19, 2000.

Snooze :: what makes you think this country will counter attack? WHAT IF our ability is deterred for even 1 hour? Bang, we get it without retaliation. IF Al Gore (OZONE AL) is elected, he would'nt because it would hurt the environment, ask him he's stated as much.

-- robert knight (rknight@nb.net), February 19, 2000.

lockandload .... Just think ' add another stage to the rocket and boost the thrust . No problem to hit as far as Salt Lake City , LOL. Eagle

-- Hal Walker (e999eagle@FREEWWWEB.COM), February 19, 2000.