Whodunnit?
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“Missile development in the 1980s
It was in the 1980s that North Korea’s drive for missiles began to pick up speed. In the early years, the Scud-B development effort had progressed slowly due to financial and technical constraints. But the effort got a giant boost in 1985 from the war in the Gulf. Iran, under missile attack from Iraq, was quickly depleting its small supply of Soviet-made Scuds purchased from Libya. In search of a new supplier, Iran turned to North Korea. Tehran agreed to help finance Pyongyang’s missile effort in exchange for technology transfer and an option to buy North Korean missiles once they became available.
Iran s financial help was indispensable. By January 1987, the Koreans were able complete and test-fire their new Scud missile at a site north of Wonsan. The successful test was followed in June 1987 by a $500 million arms deal that included the sale of approximately 100 missiles to Tehran. Pyongyang shipped the first Scud-Bs in July 1987, and also helped Iran set up a Scud production and assembly factory. Iranian financing was so important that Iran received the first Scuds North Korea produced, even before they were deployed in Korea itself. The first 90-100 missiles had been delivered by February 1988. By late 1990, Tehran also had agreed to buy North Korea s production of extended-range Scud-C missiles, which could fly 500 kilometers. Press reports in 1991 claimed that Iran had ordered an additional 200 Scud-B and Scud-Cs.
To fill Iran’s orders and to equip its own forces, Pyongyang was churning out an estimated 8-10 Scuds per month by the late 1980s. At that rate, North Korea could now have over 800 of these missiles operationally deployed or available for export. More recent estimates put North Korea’s production rate at as high as 15 missiles per month, and a September 1996 New York Times story reported that North Korea now had 1,700 Scud missiles in its inventory.”
http://www.wisconsinproject.org/countries/nkorea/nukemiss.html
It’s been my opinion that the DPRK is but a puppet of the PRC....and all controversial actions the DPRK takes are deflected from the source.
I feel for you living in Japan with this garbage going on -- I really do. I remember sitting in Guam just a few weeks after 9/11 when I was active duty. It was just after 1 am, when the ground started shaking so hard I thought the world was coming to an end. I ran to the door of my "dorm room," thinking the 3-story building was going to collapse on me. As I opened the door, I saw blue flashes of lights in the distance and I thought, "Oh hell, the North Koreans fired a damn missile at us, while our focus is on Afghanistan and Iraq." As it turned out, it was only an 7.1 magnitude earthquake, and the blue flashes were transformer exploding on the island. We got lucky that day, because the US could not realistically fight a two-front war in Korea and in Afghanistan/Iraq...
Sadly, living in fear is NOW something anyone within N. Korea's missile strike range will have to deal with. Bush and Condi should have put that fire out a long time ago. But in all honesty, looking backwards, who could have thought a dufus like BHO would have one day become CINC and be the one to inherit this problem?!
FYI, here's the timeline of North Korea's missile program:
Aug. 31, 1998: North Korea fires suspected missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean, calling it a satellite.
Sept. 13, 1999: North Korea pledges to freeze long-range missile tests.
June 2001: North Korea warns it will reconsider missile test moratorium if Washington doesn't resume contacts aimed at normalizing relations.
July 2001: U.S. State Department reports North Korea developing long-range missile.
September 2002: North Korea pledges in summit talks with Japan to extend its moratorium on missile tests beyond 2003.
Jan. 10, 2003: North Korea announces withdrawal from Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
March 10, 2003: North Korea fires a land-to-ship missile off east coast into waters between South Korea and Japan.
October 2003: North Korea fires two land-to-ship missiles.
May 2004: North Korea reaffirms its missile moratorium in summit talks with Japan.
May 2005: North Korea fires a short-range missile into the Sea of Japan.
March 8, 2006: North Korea fires two short-range missiles.
June 18, 2006: North Korea vows to increase its "military deterrent" to cope with what it calls U.S. attempts to provoke war.
July 5, 2006: North Korea launches seven missiles into the Sea of Japan, including a long-range Taepodong-2.
July 15, 2006: U.N. Security Council adopts Resolution 1695 demanding North Korea halt missile program.
Oct. 9, 2006: North Korea conducts underground nuclear test blast after citing "extreme threat of a nuclear war" from U.S.
Oct. 15, 2006: U.N. Security Council adopts Resolution 1718 condemning test, imposing sanctions and banning North Korea from activities related to its nuclear weapons program, including "their means of delivery and related materials."
July 14, 2007: North Korea shuts down its main Yongbyon reactor, later starts disabling it.
June 27, 2008: North Korea destroys cooling tower at Yongbyon.
Sept. 19, 2008: North Korea says it is restoring a key atomic reactor.
Oct. 11, 2008: U.S. removes North Korea from a list of states that sponsor terrorism.
Feb. 15: North Korea claims it has the right to "space development."
Feb. 23: South Korea says North Korea has a new type of medium-range ballistic missile capable of reaching northern Australia and Guam.
March 11: North Korea declares satellite launch will take place between April 4-8.
April 5: North Korea launches long-range rocket from its base at Musundan-ri on the country's northeast coast.
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Source: South Korean defense and foreign ministries and presidential office.