|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
North Korea: Pyongyang Uses Covert Approach to Acquire WMD-Related Items In recent years, North Korea has sought to further its WMD aims by covertly importing related goods and technologies from abroad, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Aug. 13). The interception earlier this year of a shipment of high-strength aluminum tubes, which could be used to build uranium enrichment centrifuges, helps to illustrate North Korea’s covert purchases, according to the Post. In early April, the French cargo ship Ville de Virgo docked in Hamburg, where it picked up a shipment of 214 high-strength aluminum tubes apparently purchased by the Chinese Shenyang Aircraft Corp. Shortly after the ship left Hamburg, however, German intelligence officials learned that the true destination for the tubes was North Korea for use in its nuclear weapons program, the Post reported. In mid-April, French and German authorities tracked the Ville de Virgo to the eastern Mediterranean and captured the tubes, according to the Post. German police arrested the owner of a small export firm and discovered plans for North Korea to obtain as many as 2,000 high-strength aluminum tubes, which could have given Pyongyang the ability to produce as many as 3,500 gas centrifuges if it had succeeded, the Post reported. “The intentions were clearly nuclear,” said a Western diplomat familiar with the investigation. “The result could have been several bombs’ worth of weapons-grade uranium in a year,” the diplomat said. Also in early April, a cargo ship left the Japanese port of Kobe Harbor with direct-current stabilizers, which are also used to enrich uranium, according to the Post. The stabilizers were being shipped to Thailand, where they were then set to be sent to North Korea, the Post reported. In mid-May, a German manufacturer sold 33 tons of sodium cyanide, which can be used to make tabun, to a buyer believed to be a company based in Singapore (see GSN, May 19). That shipment as well was to be diverted to North Korea. Both transfers, however, were blocked. “There are countries in the world where you can pay $2,000 to a government minister and he’ll sign anything — and then confirm to you that he signed it,” said Rastislav Kacer, a former Slovak deputy defense minister who helped lead an investigation into a covert attempt by North Korea to buy sophisticated radar equipment. “Documents that are fake can be made to appear very real,” Kacer added (Joby Warrick, Washington Post, Aug. 15). Covert Missile Sales As part of its efforts to generate badly needed hard currency, North Korea allegedly exports ballistic missile-related items and technologies covertly, according to the Washington Post. For example, in late June 1999, Indian authorities searched the North Korean freighter Kuwolsan while it was docked in the port of Kandla. Inside boxes labeled “water refinement equipment,” they found a cache of missile-related items, such as tips of nose cones, machine tools and guidance systems, according to the Post. They also found in other crates a large number of blueprints for Scud ballistic missiles. The intended destination of the missile-related items was Libya, according to U.S. intelligence officials. “In the past we had seen missiles or engine parts, but here was an entire assembly line for missiles offered for sale,” an Indian official said. “This was a complete technology transfer,” the official said. The missile-related cargo onboard the Kuwolsan might not have been discovered had the ship’s crew not tried to make extra money by picking up a cargo of sugar, according to documents and interviews with officials. Soon after leaving the North Korean port of Nampo, the ship traveled to two Thai ports to pick up 14,000 tons of sugar to sell along the way, according to records. When an attempt to sell the sugar to some Algerians collapsed, the ship decided to sell it to an Indian company, requiring the stop at Kandla. While the ship was sailing to the Indian port, Indian customs officials learned that it might be carrying contraband, according to the Post. The ship was suspected of carrying weapons or ammunition, possibly to Pakistan. When the ship arrived in Kandla, Indian port officials were waiting, the Post reported. “It was crazy,” an Indian investigator said. “If you’re carrying 200 tons of sensitive equipment, you don’t go picking up extra cargo left and right,” the investigator said (Joby Warrick, Washington Post, Aug. 14).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
