[Cankor] Report #226

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Dear subscriber,

Welcome to issue #226 of the CanKor Report.

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The CanKor team

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CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE

CanKor # 226

Friday, 11 November 2005
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The Six-Party talks resume on a "sour" note this week, according to press 
reports. The DPRK Foreign Ministry accuses US President George Bush of 
violating the spirit of the talks by referring to a "tyrant in North Korea" 
during his visit to Brazil. For his part, Christopher Hill restates the US 
position that Pyongyang will not receive a light-water reactor until it 
disarms and opens to nuclear inspectors.

Kenichiro Sasae, director of Japan's Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian 
Affairs Bureau, holds talks with DPRK Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye 
Gwan. Sasae presents a proposal to set up a venue parallel to, but separate 
from the general discussions at the Six-Party talks, for discussing the 
abduction issue, security and normalization of diplomatic relations.

The ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JSC) decide to create a new department to 
take charge of DPRK affairs, including inter-Korean military talks, and cope 
with the changing security environment. The move comes as the ROK Defence 
Ministry seeks to strengthen the role of the JSC in line with its defence 
reform plan on troop reduction.

Washington's top envoy to Seoul says the USA is willing to open an office in 
Pyongyang if the DPRK takes concrete steps to dismantle its nuclear weapons 
programmes. The move could be a step towards normalizing relations but will 
only proceed if "North Koreans will do their part in building confidence."

Claiming it is urgent to remove DPRK leader Kim Jong-il, a US military 
strategist offers three operational scenarios to accomplish this goal in a 
new book "Blueprint for Action: A Future Worth Creating." Meanwhile, a 
former assistant secretary of state says the current US administration has 
abandoned the idea of regime change in the DPRK.

Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Human 
Rights Commission on the Situation of Human Rights in the DPRK, visits Seoul 
to assess the impact of the DPRK's human rights situation on the ROK. Based 
on the lessons he learned from his visit, Muntarbhorn presents a 
"Six-Points-Human-Rights-Formula" for all parties concerned.

Visitors to the recent Arirang festival in Pyongyang notice a marked rise in 
quantity and quality of advertisements. DPR Korean businesses seem to be 
showing a rising level of marketing sophistication.

CanKor introduces a new feature this week. QUIDNUNC is modeled on The 
Guardian Weekly's "Notes & Queries" section, in which readers ask questions 
on a variety of subjects and receive answers by other readers. CanKor 
subscribers include some of the world's most knowledgeable DPRK experts. 
Quidnunc is meant to encourage the sharing of this expertise and to 
stimulate discussion and debate.
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Contents:
1.  SIX-PARTY TALKS RESUME
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4417876.stm

2.  JAPAN, DPRK MEET ON SIDELINES OF TALKS
    http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/world/20051110TDY02009.htm

3.  ROK JCS TO LAUNCH DPRK POLICY DEPARTMENT
    http://www.kois.go.kr/News/News/NewsView.asp?serial_no=20051110013

4.  US WILLING TO OPEN OFFICE IN PYONGYANG
    http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200511/kt2005110917004011950.htm

5.  MILITARY STRATEGIST OFFERS SCENARIOS FOR REGIME CHANGE
    http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200511/kt2005110720284911990.htm

6.  US GIVES UP TOPPLING DPRK: EXPERT
    http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200511/kt2005111019200411990.htm

7.  UN ENVOY ON DPRK HUMAN RIGHTS MAKES RECOMMENDATIONS
    http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KOCA-6HZHFP?OpenDocument

8.  MARKETING STRATEGIES TAKE HOLD IN DPRK
    http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200511/04/200511042251219179900090209021.html

QUIDNUNC: How far can DPRK missiles fly?
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1.  SIX-PARTY TALKS RESUME
    BBC, 9 November 2005

In an opening statement, Chinese delegate Wu Dawei called on negotiators to 
be flexible and pragmatic. During the last talks, in September, hopes were 
raised of a breakthrough, when the six nations involved agreed on a 
statement of principles. But Pyongyang then asked for a light-water nuclear 
reactor - a demand rejected by the US.

The chief US negotiator, Christopher Hill, restated on Wednesday that 
Pyongyang could not receive the reward of such a reactor until it had 
disarmed and opened to nuclear inspectors. Earlier, North Korea's foreign 
ministry said recent comments by US President George Bush had jeopardised 
the talks.

The dispute seems to have been triggered by remarks Mr Bush allegedly made 
in Brazil at the weekend.

Japanese and South Korean press reports said the US president referred to a 
"tyrant in North Korea", without mentioning the country's leader Kim Jong-il 
by name. North Korea's foreign ministry responded indignantly. Mr Bush 
"malignantly slandered our supreme headquarters with such unspeakable 
vituperation as 'tyrant' and the like," a spokesman said in a statement 
carried by the North Korean KCNA news agency.

"If this is true, what he uttered is a blatant violation of the spirit of 
the joint statement of the six-party talks, which calls for 'respect for 
sovereignty' and 'peaceful co-existence'," he said.

The agreement struck at the last round of talks, in September, remains in 
doubt.

The North agreed to give up its nuclear programme in exchange for energy 
assistance and other benefits, but then demanded a civilian nuclear reactor 
as well. Both Japan and the US have rejected Pyongyang's demand for such a 
reactor, which would be expensive and take years to build.

There are also questions over the timing of the agreement's implementation. 
The North has insisted that it should not have to make the first move. The 
nuclear dispute began in late 2002, when the US accused North Korea of 
having a uranium-based nuclear arms programme, in violation of international 
agreements. The six nations represented at the talks are the two Koreas, 
China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
*************************************************

2.  JAPAN, DPRK MEET ON SIDELINES OF TALKS
    Yomiuri Shimbun, 10 November 2005

Kenichiro Sasae, director of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian 
Affairs Bureau, held talks with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye 
Gwan at the Japanese ambassador's official residence here Tuesday night 
during which Sasae stressed that North Korea should settle the abduction 
issue.

During the 2-1/2-hour meeting held prior to the six-party talks on North 
Korea's nuclear development program, Sasae, the leader of the Japanese 
delegation, reportedly told Kim, his North Korean counterpart: "It's 
important to solve the abduction issue...Making progress in Japanese-North 
Korean relations will also have a favourable impact on the six-way talks."

"I understand it well," Kim reportedly replied. The meeting was held after 
the Japanese side invited Kim to dinner. As for a Japanese proposal to set 
up a venue for discussing the abduction issue, security and normalization of 
diplomatic relations parallel to, but separate from the general discussions 
at the six-way talks, Kim reportedly told Sasae, "As it is important in 
thinking about future developments, let's both consider it carefully."

"Making progress in the nuclear issue toward eventual abolishment will have 
a good impact on the Japanese-North Korean relations," Sasae was quoted as 
telling Kim. "I'd like to present Japan's proposal on how to draw up a 
schedule."

"I'd like to present our opinion on the matter," Kim replied.
*************************************************

3.  ROK JCS TO LAUNCH DPRK POLICY DEPARTMENT
    Korean Overseas Information Service (KOIS), 10 November 2005

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Thursday (Nov. 10) that it will 
create a new department to take charge of North Korean affairs, including 
inter-Korean military talks, to cope with the changing security environment. 
The move comes as the Defence Ministry seeks to strengthen the role of the 
JSC in line with its defence reform plan on troop reduction and a balanced 
development of the three main branches of the military - Army, Navy and Air 
Force. The ministry plans to cut the number of its current 691,000-strong 
armed forces to 500,000 by 2020, while modernizing the military's weapon 
systems.

"The envisaged department will be established under the existing strategic 
planning office of the JSC. It will deal with policies on North Korea and 
preparations for inter-Korean military talks," a JSC official said.

General-level military talks between the two Koreas have stalled since June 
last year, though a few working-level meetings were held, including the 
latest one held last August. The vice chief of the JSC, a four-star general, 
will take charge of the inter-Korean defence talks, the official said, 
adding the issue of getting back military operational control of the 
military during wartime from the US is also to be dealt with by the JSC's 
strategic planning office. To that end, the JSC plans to increase the number 
of JSC personnel to 800 from the current 620 by 2008, according to the 
official.

The JSC also plans to formulate contingency plans on the Korean Peninsula on 
a test basis starting next year. Currently, the South Korea-US Combined 
Forces Command (CFC) creates military contingency plans in case of an 
emergency on the peninsula such as a mass defection from the North or a 
regime collapse. The JSC also seeks to create another department by 2010 for 
mobilizing reserve troops and military equipment, in case of war, the 
official said.
*************************************************

4.  US WILLING TO OPEN OFFICE IN PYONGYANG
    by Park Song-wu, Korea Times, 9 November 2005


The United States is willing to open an office in Pyongyang if North Korea 
takes concrete steps of dismantling its nuclear weapons programs, Alexander 
Vershbow, Washington's top envoy to Seoul, said on Wednesday. The 
ambassador's remarks seemed designed to rebuff North Korea's repeated claims 
that the US should first abandon its "ambition" to topple the Pyongyang 
regime.

"We are prepared to go down the road of normalizing our relations, 
negotiating a permanent peace agreement for the Korean Peninsula, open an 
office in Pyongyang, things that show in concrete ways that we have no 
hostile intention toward North Korea," he said at a breakfast meeting at the 
National Assembly.

Vershbow said the Kim Jong-il regime creates fear of an outside enemy to 
"justify" or to "cover up" the failures of its own domestic policies. "For 
us to offer to normalize relations with North Korea is not a simple or easy 
step for an American political leader given how awful that regime really 
is," he said. "So I hope North Koreans will do their part in building 
confidence. We're ready to do our part."

The meeting in the parliament took place on the same day the three-day long 
six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programs resumed in Beijing. In the 
last round of talks in September, North Korea agreed to dismantle its 
nuclear programs in return for economic benefits and diplomatic recognition. 
Vershbow said that the foundation of the Seoul-Washington relationship is 
becoming stronger. But he warned that a lack of proper attention could 
undermine it.

"Some Americans worry that Koreans view everything through the prism of the 
challenge of reunification and are reluctant to cooperate on anything else," 
he said. "Sometimes such perceptions can grow into reality if we don't take 
care of this relationship on both sides."

Regarding Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's plan to increase financial 
assistance to North Korea, the American envoy said that he hopes that 
investment sees a high-rate of return.

"Your minister of unification suggested that Korea alone is going to spend 
maybe 5 billion dollars over the next 10 to 15 years," Vershbow said. "He 
sees this as an investment toward long-term stability and peace. We hope 
this investment has a high-rate of return."

Answering a question on Seoul's attempts to get back the wartime operational 
command, he said that it will take time before seeing the final output of 
the talks even though the two sides began negotiations to reflect the 
changing situation in Northeast Asia.

"I think we maintain an open mind, but we think this should be handled very 
carefully in a step-by-step way, taking into account the real security 
conditions in Korea and in the region," he said.

As for Washington's hope to have flexibility on its operations of US Forces 
Korea, Vershbow said that his country's commitment to the defence of Korea 
is much more important.

"Yes, we need to have the flexibility to move our forces to meet crisis in 
different parts of the world," he said. "But that's not at the expense of 
our commitment to the defence of Korea."

On bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) talks, Vershbow said the two allies 
can begin negotiations early next year. But he said key issues, such as 
South Korea's ban on US beef imports and the screen quota system, should 
first be addressed.

"And that would remove some objections that are being raised by certain 
influential sectors in the US regarding an FTA," he said. Vershbow was 
formerly the top US envoy to Russia before he replaced Christopher Hill last 
month. Hill is now the chief US nuclear envoy to the six-party talks.
*************************************************

5.  MILITARY STRATEGIST OFFERS SCENARIOS FOR REGIME CHANGE
    Yonhap News Service, 7 November 2005

A US military strategist, claiming it is urgent to remove North Korean 
leader Kim Jong-il, offers three scenarios that at worst would mean a direct 
threat of war and the flaunting of occupation plans. In his new book 
"Blueprint for Action: A Future Worth Creating," published late last month, 
Thomas Barnett argues the United States must stabilize Asia in order to free 
its military resources for more urgent tasks in the Middle East. Stabilizing 
Asia requires "putting a leash" on Taiwan, forging partnerships with China 
and India, and ousting Kim Jong-il, Barnett says. He also predicts Kim's 
ouster could come as early as 2010 through a US-China partnership.

An author and security guru, Barnett received wide acclaim with his 2004 
book, "The Pentagon's New Map," which the US Department of Defence found so 
compelling and insightful that it invited him to advise and brief senior 
appointees and officers. He was invited back to Washington last month for a 
closed-door speech to some 500 military officers and defence officials at 
the National Defence University to unveil his latest book, and was back 
again last week to speak to even bigger crowds from both military and 
civilian sectors. An expert on the former Soviet Union, he was a professor 
of strategy at the Naval War College prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist 
attacks.

His new book talks about the "New Core" powers that include Korea, China, 
India, Russia and Brazil. It gives the name "the Gap" for nations left 
outside of globalization, notably ones in the Middle East. It offers three 
scenarios for ousting Kim Jong-il, which he categorizes as "Good, the Bad, 
and the Ugly."

The "good" scenario is to offer Kim asylum in another country, while the 
"bad" scenario is to snatch him like Panama's Manuel Noriega and put him on 
trial like Slobodan Milosevic.

The "ugly" version is to show Kim the Pentagon neocons' war and post-war 
occupation plans, says Barnett. The US would need the help of South Korea, 
China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Russia to remove Kim, and ensuring 
China's participation means willingness to make serious concessions on the 
US part, writes the author.

"If we want to pull the East's New Core powers into a long-term alliance 
devoted to shrinking the Gap, we should forge that partnership with a war 
worth winning, or perhaps just a regional rogue worth toppling," he says. 
"This blueprint for action already includes preemptively declaring a 
permanent truce in the Taiwan Straits, which is the quid we offer for 
Beijing's quo for the solution set that really matters in East Asia today: 
the reunification of Korea following Kim Jong Il's removal from power."

"The opening bids aren't easy, but it's something we need to do if we are 
ever going to shift military resources from East Asia toward the Gap," he 
writes. The most important strategic security goal for the US in the next 
decade is to create an Asian equivalent of NATO, Barnett claims.

"What we really need to offer Beijing on the far side is something truly 
useful to replace him (Kim) and that something is an Asian NATO," he says. 
And stabilization in the East is a prerequisite for stability elsewhere, he 
argues.

"If Bush is truly committed to transforming the Middle East and shrinking 
that much of the Gap in one fell swoop, he should do everything in his power 
to secure the East during his watch, because serious instability there or 
... actual war is the one great extra-regional scenario that could push the 
US military out of the Gulf in a dangerous way that's ultimately 
destabilizing for globalization's long-term prospects," he says.
*************************************************

6.  US GIVES UP TOPPLING DPRK: EXPERT
    Korea Times, 10 November 2005

The administration of US President George W. Bush may have abandoned the 
idea of toppling the Kim Jong-il regime in North Korea, but it is not fully 
committed to engaging it either, a non-proliferation expert said Wednesday. 
Robert Einhorn, former assistant secretary of state, said the shift in the 
second Bush government from the first term is a "tactical" one designed to 
evade blame should negotiations with the North collapse. Einhorn is now 
senior advisor to the Center for Strategic International Studies.

North Korea agreed at last month's six-party talks on its nuclear programs 
that it will give up its nuclear weapons and programs in return for security 
guarantees, diplomatic recognition and financial assistance. The talks also 
involve South Korea, the USA, China, Russia and Japan.

Einhorn said there was still a strong division within the Bush 
administration about whether North Korea will indeed give up its nuclear 
ambitions. Even if the communist state says so, the USA will still doubt it, 
he said at a discussion session at Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.

"I am unsure whether the Bush administration is yet willing to take yes for 
an answer," he said.

The reason for no longer seeking regime change in North Korea is that the 
USA does not see Kim Jong-il and his government as very dangerous, and that 
Pyongyang is doomed to collapse anyway, according to Einhorn.

"Kim is seen as leading an inward-looking, dead-end regime preoccupied with 
its own survival," he said. "The downside risk of lending some legitimacy to 
Kim's doomed regime is manageable ... (The Bush administration) does not 
worry about giving more staying power to a doomed regime."

Einhorn said North Korea has been trying to procure uranium enrichment 
equipment since the 1990s.

"There was evidence in late 1990s of North Korean efforts to procure certain 
specialized pieces of equipment that pointed to an enrichment program. 
Efforts were made in Japan, Russia and elsewhere," he said. The uranium 
suspicions became unambiguous in the summer of 2002 when North Korea made 
larger-scale efforts to procure such equipment, he said.
*************************************************

7.  UN ENVOY ON DPRK HUMAN RIGHTS MAKES RECOMMENDATIONS
    UN Commission on Human Rights Press Release, 10 November 2005

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic 
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) of the United Nations Commission on Human 
Rights issued the following statement today in Seoul:

Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations 
Human Rights Commission on the Situation of Human Rights in the DPRK, paid a 
visit to the ROK from 3 to 10 November 2005. The purpose of the visit was to 
assess the impact of the DPRK's human rights situation on the Republic of 
Korea (ROK). He expresses his warm gratitude to the Government of the ROK 
for facilitating his visit and to the National Human Rights Commission of 
Korea for the invitation to the International Seminar on the North Korean 
Human Rights.

He wishes to thank sincerely the wide range of governmental, 
non-governmental, inter-governmental and other entities met by him during 
the visit. He was accompanied by an officer of the UN Office of the High 
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and had full and free access to all 
that he sought to meet. It should be recalled that while the UN Special 
Rapporteur wishes strongly to visit the DPRK and has sought access to the 
DPRK several times, the DPRK has, to date, declined to invite him into the 
country.The UN Special Rapporteur understands the delicate nature of the 
relationship between the ROK ("the South") and the DPRK ("the North"), given 
the special features of the Korean peninsula based on a politically 
sensitive and volatile history. There is the overarching challenge of a 
shared destiny and its interface with human rights, peace, democracy, human 
security, de-nuclearization and sustainable development. A number of 
positive developments have taken place in recent years, including a variety 
of Inter-Korean talks and cooperative activities in the economic and other 
fields, which help to create a greater sense of mutual self-confidence and 
more amicable relations conducive to reconciliation.

In reality, a number of key human rights issues deserve attention. The 
impact of the Korean War (1950-3) is, in a sense, still felt today in the 
quest to reunite the millions of families separated by the war. The South 
and North Korean Red Cross Societies have played a key role in reuniting 
families as part of an ongoing process. The UN Special Rapporteur was 
pleased to note that a family reunion activity of this kind was taking place 
at the time of his visit, and these reunions need to be maximised.

>From another angle, the problem of missing persons, "the missing" has many 
facets. A number of civilians and prisoners of war remain missing today from 
the time of the war. Subsequent to the war, there have also been various 
alleged abductions carried out by the DPRK in relation to persons from "the 
South" which need effective clarification and peaceful resolution.

In regard to aid currently given by the ROK with impact on the right to food 
in the DPRK, the policy of the ROK in providing food aid without 
conditionality is welcome and is generally in line with the international 
practice of providing humanitarian aid. On another front, although faced 
with a precarious situation, the ROK has commendably helped to settle a 
number of those who have sought refuge from the DPRK. The Special Rapporteur 
was pleased to meet a number of these persons at the very well-maintained 
Hanawan centre to learn directly from them about their life experiences. 
Given the traumatic past of many of those who have sought refuge, more 
support in the psychological, occupational and other fields, with 
community-based inputs, is required to assist them once they leave the 
centre and enter the competitive world beyond. There is also a need to 
underline the protection of refugees and human rights in all countries and 
to tackle the root causes of their displacement in the country of origin.

The UN Special Rapporteur is conscious of the wide variety of views on what 
the national policy on human rights towards "the North" should be in the ROK 
and recognises that this variety reflects the democratic nature of the 
country, which invites the plurality of opinions. He wishes to emphasise the 
multilateral nature of his mandate under the UN; a primary purpose of this 
mandate is to monitor and report on the DPRK's human rights situation to the 
UN.

As lessons learned from his visit, the UN Special Rapporteur wishes to 
address a Six-Points-Human-Rights-Formula to all concerned parties - as 
constructive and principled recommendations for them to reflect in their 
policies and practices as follows:

The UN Special Rapporteur:

1. welcomes the warming of relations between the ROK and the DPRK in the 
spirit of Inter-Korean dialogue, reconciliation and cooperation; encourages 
the ROK and the DPRK to maximise family reunion opportunities; and urges the 
DPRK to clarify and resolve effectively the longstanding problem of missing 
persons;

2. supports the ROK and the international community to sustain humanitarian 
aid, including food aid, to the DPRK, due to the current food and other 
shortages in the country; urges the DPRK to facilitate access to such aid 
and transparency of its distribution to ensure that it reaches the target 
groups in the DPRK; and underlines the need to build food security through 
sustainable agricultural techniques, good governance, broad-based people's 
participation in decision-making processes, and equitable allocation of 
resources by the DPRK to respond to the development needs of the country;

3. encourages the ROK to continue its humanitarian policy of accepting those 
who have sought refuge from the DPRK and to facilitate their social recovery 
and reintegration, including by means of adequate health care and other 
services in response to their psychological, occupational and other needs, 
on a longer term basis;

4. calls upon the DPRK to end the various discrepancies and transgressions 
concerning respect for human rights in the civil, political, economic, 
social and cultural fields in the country, and to implement effectively the 
human rights treaties to which it is a party and the various recommendations 
addressed to the DPRK by a variety of UN human rights mechanisms, including 
the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur in his reports to the UN,

5. urges the DPRK to invite the UN Special Rapporteur and other UN human 
rights mechanisms to visit the country to take stock of the human rights 
situation and recommend reforms and related follow-up;

6. invites the DPRK progressively to engage in cooperative activities with 
the international community to improve the implementation of human rights in 
the country, such as through economic programmes with a human rights 
component (e.g. labour rights in the industrial zone), Rule of Law 
programmes (e.g. training and education to capacity-build law enforcers, to 
respect civil liberties, and to reform the prison system) , and legal 
literacy programmes (e.g. dissemination of international human rights 
standards and the relationship between international law and national laws, 
policies and practices), with greater space for civil society participation.
*************************************************

8.  MARKETING STRATEGIES TAKE HOLD IN DPRK
    by Lee Young-jong, JoongAng Ilbo, 5 November 2005

While capitalism may still be a rather unfamiliar concept in North Korea, 
the idea of actively marketing products seems to have taken root, a 
phenomenon that government officials attribute to the recent Arirang 
festival that saw many tourists spending their money in the North. One North 
Korean trading company has produced a brochure in which a North Korean woman 
wearing hanbok, the traditional Korean attire, promotes a skin lotion and 
"nutrition cream" called "spring scent" that the company claims is four to 
five times more effective than Japanese products. The brochure explains the 
company's product line, which includes night creams, and features company 
officials in a photo along with an e-mail address for contact purposes.

A shop at the Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang features an advertising slogan for a 
Chinese-made motorcycle that says: "Before you saddle a Bugang motorcycle, 
don't discuss the features of motorcycles!" The poster also advertises a 
warranty under which repairs will be made for free. North Korea's Choson 
Bugang Trading Co. imports the motorcycles from China and sells them under 
the Bugang brand name.

The marketing is not only visible in Pyongyang but also in the Kaesong area, 
where South Korean tourists have begun to venture. A traditional North 
Korean inn posted an advertisement for an eel dish at the Pakyon Waterfall 
that read: "We broil eels that taste so good you will regret it if you don't 
taste them today!"

A government official said yesterday that measures taken three years ago to 
stimulate the North's ailing economy have encouraged North Korean companies 
to switch to a performance-oriented system and compete. "This is why North 
Korean companies that didn't care much about sales previously are now 
engaged in a sales competition using advertising phrases that are close to 
capitalism," said the official.
*************************************************

QUIDNUNC

In this section of CanKor, we invite you to send questions and/or answers, 
or to augment or dispute answers of other readers. Answers should be limited 
to 150 words. Postings may be edited for space. Send to: editor at CanKor.ca

*************************************************

HOW FAR CAN DPRK MISSILES FLY?

The DPRK arsenal includes missiles with various ranges. These missiles 
cannot reach the United States yet, but they can reach South Korea and 
Japan. All of North Korea's ballistic missiles trace their ancestry to 
40-year-old Soviet rocket technology obtained via Egypt:

-- Hwasong 6 (Scud C) -- A reliable short-range, single-stage, liquid-fuel 
rocket with a 500-kilometre range [can reach ROK] carrying a single 770 
kilogram payload.

-- Nodong (Scud D) -- A fairly reliable medium-range, single-stage, 
liquid-fuel rocket with a 1,500-kilometre maximum range [can reach Japan] 
carrying a one-ton payload.

-- Taepodong I, II -- An untested [first and only test failed] multistage 
rocket with an estimated range of 10,000 kilometres [theoretically able to 
reach West coast of USA] carrying a half-ton payload.

[Answer taken from Kenneth Quinones, "Understanding North Korea," Alpha 
Books, pp. 22-23]
*************************************************

WHAT NOW

Does the DPRK have nuclear weapons?

[Answers should be e-mailed to: editor at CanKor.ca]
*************************************************

End CanKor # 226

*************************************************
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