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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Defector: N. Korea Has Uranium Program |
| 2004-02-09 |
| A top-ranking North Korean defector said the North launched a uranium-based nuclear weapons program in 1996 with the help of Pakistan, a Japanese newspaper reported Sunday. Hwang Jang Yop, a former mentor to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, told the Tokyo Shimbun in an interview that a top military official told him eight years ago about an agreement with Pakistan to develop an enriched uranium weapons program. All sorts of similar stories popping up! Since 2002, the United States has contended that North Korea has been developing uranium-based nuclear weapons as a supplement to its long-standing plutonium-based nuclear capability. While there is no dispute about the plutonium program, North Korea has persistently denied U.S. allegations about the uranium-based project. "Jon Pyong Ho came to me, as the person responsible for international affairs, asking ’Can we buy some more plutonium from Russia or somewhere? I want to make a few more nuclear bombs,’" the newspaper quoted Hwang as saying. "But then, before the fall of 1996, he said ’We’ve solved a big problem. We don’t need plutonium this time. Due to an agreement with Pakistan, we will use uranium.’" Deep-laid plans indeed. Jon is a member of North Korea’s National Defense Committee and a secretary of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party. Hwang, who defected to South Korea in 1997, was a former chief of North Korea’s Parliament. And he won’t get asylum in Canada, either. According to Pakistani government and intelligence sources, equipment including centrifuges for enriching uranium were trafficked from Pakistan from 1989 until the late 1990s. Pakistani officials last week said Abdul Qadeer Khan, founder of the country’s nuclear program, had confessed to sending sensitive nuclear technology to North Korea. A Bush administration official said Friday, however, that China refuses to accept the U.S. contention that North Korea is developing nuclear weapons based on highly enriched uranium. The administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. diplomats have told Beijing its position is not China, curb your dog! |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-2-9 10:07:14 AM |