North Korea:  Pyongyang Repeats Threat to End Missile Test Moratorium

North Korea has said that Japan’s plan to launch a spy satellite could lead to Pyongyang abandoning its missile-test moratorium, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, Feb. 24).

“There is no law allowing Japan to send a satellite into space and banning the D.P.R.K. from doing so,” a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement (see GSN, Jan. 13).

The declaration signed last year by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, in which North Korea agreed to indefinitely extend its self-imposed missile-test moratorium, “remains valid only when it is respected by both sides,” the spokesman said.

Japan’s plans to launch the spy satellites, when taken with Tokyo’s intent to join a U.S. missile defense system, posed “a grave threat” to North Korea, the spokesman said. 

“Japan’s sending a spy satellite into space and establishing the MD [missile defense] is a hostile act against the D.P.R.K and poses a grave threat to it,” the spokesman said.  “If Japan pulls up the D.P.R.K. over its missile issue to justify Japan’s use of the spy satellite and introduction of the MD, this cannot be interpreted as a sincere attitude toward the … declaration,” the spokesman added (Agence France-Presse, March 19).

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Iraq:  Baghdad Has Destroyed 72 al-Samoud 2 Missiles

Iraq yesterday destroyed two prohibited al-Samoud 2 missiles and related equipment, bringing the total to 72 missiles since March 1, according to a U.N. press release (see GSN, March 17; U.N. release, March 17).  On Sunday, Iraq destroyed two of the missiles, along with related equipment (U.N. release, March 16).

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Iraq:  Baghdad Has Destroyed 68 Al-Samoud 2 Missiles; Recent Trade Reported

Iraq has so far destroyed at least 68 of its prohibited al-Samoud 2 missiles, according to Reuters (see GSN, March 13).  On Saturday, Iraq destroyed three of the missiles, along with a launcher and other related equipment (Samia Nakhoul, Reuters, March 15).  Iraq Friday destroyed four al-Samoud 2 missiles, seven warheads for the missiles and other related equipment (U.N. release, March 14).

Iraq Purchases Missile Fuel Chemical

In August Iraq purchased from a Chinese company a dual-use chemical used in producing missile fuel, with the aid of French and Syrian brokers, according to U.S. intelligence and defense officials.

The sale of the chemical, hydroxy terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), was traced last summer from China’s Qilu Chemicals company, U.S. officials said.  “Qilu Chemicals is the largest manufacturer of HTPB in China,” an official said.

The French company CIS Paris brokered the sale of 20 tons of HTPB to Iraq, according to the Washington Times.  The shipment was sent from China to the Syrian port of Tartus, where it was then sent via truck to an Iraqi missile production plant, according to U.S. officials.

France has denied aiding the HTPB sale.

“These accusations are devoid of all foundation,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau said.  “They are a part of a polemic that we do not want to get involved in.  In line with the rules currently in force, France has neither delivered, nor authorized the delivery of such materials, either directly or indirectly,” he said (Bill Gertz, Washington Times, March 15).

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China:  Officials Say China Did Not Need U.S. Rocket Technology

Two recently punished U.S. companies did not give missile technology to Beijing, according to two Chinese scientists familiar with the launch of U.S.-built satellites, Bloomberg.com reported yesterday (see GSN, March 6).

The U.S. State Department fined U.S. contractors Boeing and Hughes Electronics $32 million last week for sending rocket technology to China without the proper licenses, Bloomberg.com reported.  The United States said that the companies should have obtained licenses before they provided missile technology while investigating two failed Chinese rocket launches in the 1990s.  The State Department alleged that the actions represented 123 violations of the Arms Control Export Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.  Boeing and Hughes agreed to the fine.

“There isn’t any need for us” to take U.S. rocket technology, said Long Lehao, head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.  “Our rockets are like our children, we’re very clear on their illnesses and merits,” Long said.

Demonstrating its technological independence, China released an analysis of its failed 1995 Long March 2E rocket launch more than six months before the U.S. companies did, according to Mu Shan, former deputy chief engineer of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

“This has harmed not only the feelings of the Chinese people, but also to the interests of the two countries,” Mu said (Chi-Chu Tschang, Bloomberg.com, March 13).

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Iraq:  Baghdad Has Destroyed 58 al-Samoud 2 Missiles

Iraq yesterday destroyed three prohibited al-Samoud 2 missiles, bringing the total number of destroyed missiles to date to 58 (see GSN, March 12).  The missiles were banned after a panel of international experts determined they could fly beyond the U.N.-mandated range of 150 kilometers (U.N. release, March 12).

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