N.Korea developing missiles, nukes to compensate for weak conventional weapons:

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, March 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has been focusing on developing
ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons to compensate for its outdated
conventional weapons, which cannot match South Korea's modern arsenal, a senior
U.S. intelligence official said Tuesday.
"North Korea's large, forward-positioned, but poorly-equipped and poorly-trained
military is not well-suited to sustain major military operations against the
South," Defense Intelligence Agency Director Michael Maples told a Senate Armed
Services Committee hearing. "As a result of its limitations, North Korea is
emphasizing nuclear capabilities and ballistic missiles as a means to ensure its
sovereignty and to deter technology-superior opponents."
North Korea has recently said it will launch a communications satellite as part
of its space development program, but South Korea and the U.S. consider that a
cover to test a ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland U.S.
The U.S. and its allies have warned that any launch of a satellite or missile
will bring sanctions under a United Nations resolution banning any ballistic
missile activity, although China and Russia have not been clear on whether they
will join such a move.
"After a failed July 2006 test launch, North Korea has continued development of
the Taepodong 2, which could be used for space launch or as an ICBM," Maples
said. "North Korea announced in late February they intend to launch a
communications satellite, Kwangmyongsong-2. North Korea also continues work on an
intermediate range ballistic missile."
North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile in 2006 is widely believed to be a
failure due to its flight time of less than one minute, but its previous version
flew over Japan and fell into seas off Alaska in 1998.
North Korea insists the 1998 launch was to put a communications satellite into
orbit.
North Korea is believed to be preparing to launch an improved version of its
ballistic missile this time.
The North's military said last week that any interception of its rocket by the
U.S. or Japan may lead to a war, and warned that the North's military will
retaliate by destroying the interceptors wherever they are. The U.S. Navy has
several ships capable of ballistic missile defense.
"The long-range artillery the North positioned near the demilitarized zone is
complemented by a substantial mobile ballistic missile force with an array of
warhead options to include weapons of mass destruction that can range U.S. forces
and our allies in the Republic of Korea and Japan," said Maples, an Army
three-star general.
He said North Korea "could have stockpiled several nuclear weapons from plutonium
produced at Yongbyon and it likely sought a uranium enrichment capability for
nuclear weapons at least in the past."
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 and is widely believed to
possess the world's biggest stocks of chemical and biological weapons.
Under the military-first policy sponsored by its leader, Kim Jong-il, North
Korea, meanwhile, has diverted food and other aid from the outside world to the
military, Maples said.
"North Korea will continue to divert economic and aid resources to higher
priority military projects in spite of critical public welfare needs," he said.
Transparency in food aid distribution is a key issue for the World Food Program
and other international donors amid rumors that a bulk of the food aid has been
funneled to the military and government's power elites instead of the
impoverished people.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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