N. Korea to mount nuclear warhead on ballistic missile within decade: report

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (Yonhap) -- North Korea will achieve the necessary technology
to mount a nuclear warhead onto a ballistic missile within a decade, a Pentagon
report said Monday.
"Although the test launches of the TD-2 in 2006 and 2009 were deemed
unsuccessful, we must assume that sooner or later North Korea will have a
successful test of its TD-2 and, if there are no major changes in its national
security strategy in the next decade, it will be able to mate a nuclear warhead
to a proven delivery system," said the Ballistic Missile Defense Review, released
by the Pentagon to assess the U.S. government's missile defense policy in the
coming years.
North Korea launched a rocket last April in what it said was part of a peaceful
space program to put a satellite into orbit. While the launch was deemed a
failure by the international community, it invited strong U.N. condemnation and
sanctions.
In response to the sanctions, Pyongyang detonated a nuclear device, the second of
its kind after another blast in 2006, and has since boycotted the six-party talks
on ending its nuclear weapons programs, demanding sanctions be lifted.
The review said that North Korea "successfully tested many technologies
associated with an ICBM despite the most recent launch's failure in its stated
mission of orbiting a small communications satellite." ICBM stands for
intercontinental ballistic missile.
"North Korea, which has demonstrated its nuclear ambitions and continues to
develop long-range missiles, is of particular concern," the review added.
"Following the Taepodong 1 missile test in 1998, North Korea has conducted flight
tests of the Taepodong 2 missile in 2006 and more recently in April 2009."
The North's first ballistic missile was launched in the summer of 1998 over skies
above Japan before falling into waters off Alaska, shocking both Japanese as well
as Americans.
The incident prompted then U.S. President Bill Clinton to send Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright to Pyongyang, the highest ranking U.S. official ever to visit
the reclusive communist state, to discuss with its reclusive leader Kim Jong-il
dismantlement of the North's long-range missile programs as well as its nuclear
weapons programs.
North Korean Vice Marshal Jo Myong-rok reciprocated by visiting Washington in the
waning months of Clinton's tenure in late 2000. Clinton accepted Jo's proposal
for a Pyongyang visit to conclude the nuclear and missile talks, but did not
honor the pledge, citing a lack of time.
North Korea, seen as a major exporter of missiles and parts to Iran, Syria and
several other Middle Eastern countries, reportedly demanded at that time at least
US$1 billion annually in compensation for terminating its missile sales.
The U.N. sanctions imposed after the North's rocket test early last year target
the country's shipments of arms, especially missiles and related parts.
Since then, North Korean cargo carrying missile parts and other arms have been
intercepted in the sea and air. In the most recent incident, a cargo plane was
impounded in Bangkok in December while carrying 35 tons of North Korean weapons
that reports say may have been bound for Iran.
Dennis Blair, Washington's director of national intelligence, expressed
satisfaction in December with the level of international cooperation to implement
the sanctions on North Korea. "Teamwork among different agencies in the United
States and partners abroad just last week led to the interdiction of a Middle
East-bound cargo of North Korean weapons."
The missile defense review said that North Korea "has developed an advanced
solid-propellant short-range ballistic missile (SRBM)," adding that a "mobile
intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) is also under development."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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