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Letter from Pyongyang: A quiet drink with the men who arm the 'Axis of Evil'
From Damien McElroy
(Filed: 14/04/2002)
IF President Bush's "Axis of Evil" has a watering hole for arms dealers, it is the circular bar on the 44th floor of the Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang. As dusk - and the latest power cut - shrouds the North Korean capital in gloom, the bar comes to life, its black and yellow, floral-pattern capsule chairs filling up with Iraqis, Somalis, Libyans and other patrons from a range of Middle Eastern and African nations. This nameless institution, renowned as the meeting place of choice for arms traders in the Far East, was buzzing last week. Wandering past a low-slung plastic-topped table opposite the bar, I caught the eye of Udai who would not - he said he could not - reveal his surname. He claimed to be from Baghdad, so I asked if he was in Pyongyang to purchase arms, missile parts, components - anything that would break the arms embargo against his country. "Maybe, maybe not," he said with a smile. "I come to Korea often but I cannot say why. It's a secret." With that enigmatic aside, he returned to his whispered conversation with his Korean companions. Judging by the intense attention I was drawing from the men in tinted glasses at nearby tables as I took a white leatherette barstool and ordered a Japanese beer, arms sales are a sensitive subject in Pyongyang. Foreign diplomats in the North Korean capital estimate that each year Pyongyang sells at least $500 million-worth of weapons parts, mostly components for short-range missiles and guidance systems to pariah regimes. As my fellow patrons sloshed down tumblers of Johnny Walker and the local firewater, it was disappointing to note that the discussions around the floor were more furtive than Condoleezza Rice, the US National Security Adviser, recently proclaimed. "Let's just say that the North Koreans have been known to go around with glossy brochures about their ballistic missiles," Ms Rice said last month. "They are stocking a lot of the world right now." The country's contribution to international weapons proliferation earned it a place, alongside Iran and Iraq, in the "Axis of Evil" denounced by President Bush in his State of the Union address in January. Pyongyang's lucrative arms exports are the result of its tinkering with Scud missiles supplied by the Soviet Union almost two decades ago. Its spare parts and re-engineered launching systems are shipped across the Third World on cargo ships that have been chartered for legitimate trade. Firms that charter ships in South East Asia say that North Korea frequently commissions vessels to bring a commodity such as sugar from the Far East to Europe, but the boats go missing for days while making unscheduled stops in places such as Libya. North Korea's SA-2 missile has a worldwide following and it has deployed an estimated 600 Scud missiles within firing range of the South Korean capital, Seoul. The record with longer-range missiles is less successful. In 1998, North Korea's rocket programme suffered a blow when a test Taedong 11 missile veered unpredictably in flight, missing major Japanese cities and landing in the Sea of Japan. "Every flight into Pyongyang from Beijing carries businessmen from the Middle East and Africa," said a diplomat who is a frequent visitor to the country. "Not all of them are arms dealers, but apart from weapons exports the country doesn't really have much to interest people from that region." At the "Axis of Evil" watering-hole, another successful evening of wheeling and dealing for dictators was winding to a close. With no sign that the regime will clamp down on arms sales, the clutch of North Koreans and their shady guests celebrated hard into the night. In one corner, the leader of a red-faced and weary group staggered to his feet, followed by his friends. As they left, they backslapped in the marble-clad lift lobby and exchanged wide smiles. Down in the foyer, an official black limousine waited.
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