N. Korea: Arsenal Of The Axis (cruise missiles, nukes)

Time ^ | 07/14/03 | JOHN LARKIN AND DONALD MACINTYRE

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Arsenal Of The Axis

North Korea already supplies missiles to rogue states. Now it poses a new threat: nuclear proliferation

BY JOHN LARKIN AND DONALD MACINTYRE / SEOUL

Sunan Airport on the outskirts of North Korea's capital city, Pyongyang, is one of the world's bleaker transportation hubs, a collection of featureless concrete buildings distinguished only by a giant portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il gazing beatifically over shabby tarmac. Though unpicturesque, Sunan has been providing U.S. spy satellites with plenty of photo opportunities of late. On at least six occasions between April and early July, satellites spotted Iranian IL-76 cargo planes being loaded with wooden crates at Sunan. The frequency of the flights was unusual뾫ormally no more than two flights a year take off from Sunan bound for Iran, according to U.S. government sources. But of greater concern was the size and shape of the crates, which indicated their contents. "It was cruise missiles," says an official in the Bush Administration. So sure was Washington of the jets' cargo that a complaint was lodged with China, which had allowed the flights to traverse its airspace to reach Iran.

That North Korea is selling arms abroad is no revelation. At least half a dozen countries뾦ncluding Pakistan, Libya and Syria뾞re known to have purchased missiles from the rogue regime. But analysts and hard-liners in the U.S. are increasingly concerned that a desperate North Korea is spreading more than conventional arms뾦t is bartering its atomic weapons technology to Iran, creating an unholy, and far more dangerous, alliance between the two other members of President George W. Bush's "axis of evil." "If I send a shipment of missile components on a plane, it doesn't mean I can't send with it a nuclear scientist with a hard drive," says Joseph Bermudez, a widely respected senior analyst at Jane's Information Group. Asserts Yossef Bodansky, director of the U.S. Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare: "We know there is cooperation between North Korea and Iran in the nuclear field. The Iranians have a very comprehensive military nuclear program, and North Korea has been crucial in that." He cites Middle East intelligence sources that indicate the collaboration began in the mid-1990s.

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This article confirms the content of the related post on June 16, 2003:

North’s air cargo: missiles (N. Korea now sends missiles to Iran by air)

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[Steel Wolf]

This is a good article, even though it's heavily drenched in anti-Bush sauce. It's nice to see that the 'mainstream' media is really getting on board with just how grave a threat North Korea is, and just how dangerous proliferation can be.