Nerve gas chemical shipped to North Korea from South: official
24 September 2004 1359 hrs (SST)
SEOUL: More than 100 tonnes of a toxic chemical that can be used to make deadly nerve gas were exported to North Korea by a South Korean businessman via China, the government said.
The ministry of commerce said the businessman exported 107 tonnes of sodium cyanide between June and September last year to an importer in Dandong, China, on the border with North Korea, without government approval.
The unidentified Chinese company re-exported the shipment to a North Korean trading firm, the ministry said in a statement.
Sodium cyanide is widely used to produce herbicides and in metal industries, but can also be used to make deadly nerve gas.
Because of the dual use, the chemical is subject to multilateral export control regimes to which South Korea is a signatory.
The commerce ministry said it first learned about the illegal shipments and reported the South Korean businessman to prosecutors in October last year.
Consequently, the unidentified South Korean businessman received a jail sentence of 18 months suspended for two years in January.
The ministry said authorities were checking a report that a Malaysian company exported 40 tonnes of the same chemical, 15 tonnes of which it had bought from South Korea, to North Korea last month.
North Korea has one of the world's biggest stockpiles of chemical weapons, according to US intelligence sources, and is believed to have biological weapons. The Stalinist state also boasts of its nuclear deterrent force, and Washington believes it has developed a small number of nuclear devices.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/108293/1/.html
Thank you Honestly for this link.
http://www.theage.com.au/cgi-bin/common/popupPrintArticle.pl?path=/articles/2003/01/24/1042911552277.html
Japan may ask US to strike
Friday 24 January 2003, 22:05PM
(snip)
Japan said it could ask US forces to launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korean missile bases if Pyongyang was preparing to fire missiles at its territory.
The Director-General of the Defence Agency, Shigeru Ishiba, a cabinet minister, said that it would take "seven to eight minutes or 10 minutes at the most" for North Korean missiles to reach Japan.
"If (North Korea) starts injecting fuel (into missiles) as part of preparations after expressing its intention of throwing Japan into a sea of fire or reducing it to ashes, then it means the start of an attack," he told parliament's lower house budget committee.
The defence chief added that, under their security pact, Japan could entrust the United States with an attack on "enemy territory" while engaging itself in self-defence as a "shield".
His comment was made at a time when North Korea is threatening to lift a self-imposed moratorium on ballistic missile tests, earlier instances of which in 1993 and 1998 proved Japan was well within Pyongyang's striking range.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04268/384518.stm
North Korea warns U.S., Japan of 'nuclear sea of fire'
Friday, September 24, 2004
By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times
(snip)
SEOUL, South Korea -- In an unusually explicit threat to its neighbor yesterday, North Korea warned that Japan would be immersed in a "nuclear sea of fire" if the United States were to attack the North.
The threat came as Japanese and South Korean government officials expressed fears that North Korea was preparing to test a ballistic missile. Intelligence satellites have detected unusual movements of vehicles and personnel massing around missile bases on the east coast, South Korean and Japanese officials reported. South Korea yesterday said it believed that the movements were connected with annual military games taking place near the missile bases. . . ."If the United States ignites a nuclear war in this part of the world, then U.S. bases in Japan would serve as a detonating fuse that would plunge Japan into a nuclear sea of fire," North Korea's paper, Rodong Sinmun, said in a commentary carried by the KCNA news agency. "If it wants to maintain peace and live safely, Japan should not become an appendage of the war strategy of American imperialism."
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20040926wo01.htm
More activity seen in DPRK--But chances of actual Rodong launch seen as 'slim'
Yomiuri Shimbun
Increased activity has been observed at about 10 missile bases in North Korea that could be seen as preparation for the launch of a Rodong ballistic missile, sources in the Japanese and U.S. governments said Saturday.
The latest revelation comes in the wake of reports Thursday of increased activity in eastern North Korea pointing to a possible planned test-firing of a Rodong that has a range of about 1,300 kilometers, meaning it can reach all parts of Japan.
However, a senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "The chances of an actual Rodong missile launch are slim. We can't rule out the possibility that the activity was just a large-scale military drill."
The sources said increased activity had been observed not only at missile units, but also in other North Korean army, navy and air force units.
However, the sources said the presence of the missiles themselves and the use of launch pads had not been confirmed. Military vessels had not been deployed to watch the sea near landing spots or to recover missiles after firing.
The government instructed the Defense Agency to boost monitoring of North Korea's activities by the Self-Defense Forces.
The new moves in the North Korean military were detected by SDF EP-3 electronic surveillance aircraft deployed to gather information, as well as by Japanese and U.S. reconnaissance satellites, and by monitoring wireless communications in the country, the sources said.
Earlier activity suggesting a Rodong missile might be fired was seen at missile bases in eastern North Korea, including one in Wonsan.
The latest moves by military units were also seen at missile bases in northeastern, western and other parts of the country, the sources said.
The sources also said another military facility, assumed to be a new missile launching base, had been discovered in the central area of eastern North Korea.
Japanese and U.S. military officials assumed that the missile, army, navy and air force units were acting under the command of a Rodong missile base in Shinori, north of Pyongyang.
Near the bases, vehicles carrying liquid missile fuel, other military vehicles, military personnel and missile engineers were observed gathering.
The sources said similar activity had been confirmed not only at the Rodong bases but also in underground bases for launching Taepodong-2 missiles, which have a range of between 3,500 and 6,000 kilometers.
Activity by military units other than missile units was confirmed at two or more areas outside their bases and stations. In some areas, orders were issued to limit the movement of residents near the bases and military units, they said.
In the wake of the North Korean military activity, the government predicted that it would be keeping a prolonged surveillance on the Sea of Japan and other areas surrounding the nation.
The Defense Agency heightened the defense alert level from defcon 5 to defcon 4, calling for increased information gathering by intelligence headquarters and for surveillance by the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
The agency canceled a planned regular inspection of the Kongo, an Aegis-equipped destroyer, so that it can replace the Myoko, another Aegis destroyer now deployed in the Sea of Japan.