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Originally posted by @tomic

What's funny about this is that people in the US are so worked up about North Korea and people in South Korea aren't. North Korea has a single shot at killing a bunch of people, then that's it. China would disown them. We'd bomb them to the stone age. They can't fit anything like a nuke onto a missle. Their economy is just sad. They can make a lot of noise and our leadership takes advantage of that to frighten some of us. I'm not falling for that trick. I'm not worried about North Korea.

@

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For the past decade North Korea's main export has been missiles. North Korea has been an equal opportunity proliferator. It sold missiles to Iraq under Saddam, to Iran, Syria, Libya, and possibly Pakistan. Just prior to the War in Iraq American ships intercepted a North Korean freighter bound for Yemen with a load of missiles. America insisted that the missiles remain in Yemen. It is probable that the missiles were intended to be transshipped to Syria by road. This batch was intercepted but more leak through untouched.

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Originally posted by Gorgo

FrontPageMag.org *sigh*

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With an estimated forty per cent of North Korea's foreign exchange earning coming from weapons sales –of which missile export is a major part –halting their sale is not only good for global stability but for curbing North Korea's nuclear program as well.-YaleGlobal.

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The export of ballistic missiles and related technology is one of North Korea's main sources of hard currency. Media reports estimate that Pyongyang earns an estimated $100 billion to $500 billion per year from missile sales alone -- and according to the CIA, that money fuels continued missile development and production..

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Which countries have imported North Korea missiles?
Missile exports are a major source of foreign exchange for the North Korean government. According to a U.S. military source, North Korean
missile exports to the Middle East during 2001 totaled about $580 million;22 however, this figure has probably declined in recent years. North Korea's earliest and most loyal customer for missiles and missile technology has been Iran. In 1983 the two countries reached an agreement whereby North Korea provided Iran with technical assistance to establish a missile production facility.23 Between the late 1980s and mid-1990s, Pyongyang sold about 200-300 Scud missiles to Tehran, along with transporter erector launchers (TELs) and anti-ship missiles.24 North Korea also supplied Iran with a small number of Nodong missiles.25 Egypt has also received North Korean missiles and related technologies. Cairo reportedly acquired missile parts and production capabilities for the Scud-B (Hwas#335;ng-5) system from Pyongyang during the 1980s and 1990s.26 Unconfirmed reports from 2000 and 2001 claimed that Egypt purchased complete Nodong systems and missile engines from North Korea.27 Pakistan has purchased North Korean missiles and technology; the Pakistani “Ghauri” missile is actually a renamed Nodong. Other countries that have purchased North Korean missiles, missile components, or missile technology include Libya, Syria, and Yemen.28

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22 Yoshiharu Asano, “N. Korea Missile Exports Earned 580 Mil. Dollars in '01,” Yomiuri Shimbun, May 13, 2003, in Lexis-
Nexis, http://www.lexis-nexis.com.
23 Korean Central News Agency, October 25-26, October 1983, in “Iranian Prime Minister's Visit to North Korea,” BBC
Summary of World Broadcasts, October 29, 1983, in Lexis-Nexis, http://web.lexis-nexis.com; Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr.,
“Ballistic Missile Development in Egypt,” Jane's Intelligence Review, October 1, 1992, pp. 452-458; Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr.,
“A History of Ballistic Missile Development in the DPRK,” Occasional Paper No. 2, Center for Nonproliferation Studies,
November 1999, p. 10.
24 Associated Press, “U.S. Says Iraq Trying to Buy Scud Launchers,” Toronto Star, January 30, 1991, p. A30, in Lexis-Nexis,
http://www.lexis-nexis.com; Andrew Rathmell, with contributions by James Bruce and Harold Hough, “Iran's Weapons of
Mass Destruction,” Jane's Intelligence Review, Special Report No. 6, 1995, p. 20; Steven Emerson, “The Postwar Scud
Boom,” Wall Street Journal, July 10, 1991, p. A12.
25 “Puk, nodong 1 ho Iran chaegong/saj#335;ngg#335;ri 1 ch'#335;n km sugi/mi #365;ihoe pogos#335;,” Chosun Ilbo, 17 July 1993,
http://www.chosun.com; Douglas Jehl, “Iran Is Reported Acquiring Missiles,” New York Times, April 8, 1993, p. A9, in
Lexis-Nexis, http://www.lexis-nexis.com; Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., “A History of Ballistic Missile Development in the
DPRK,” Occasional Paper No. 2, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, November 1999, p. 25; “Rodong 1 ho p'anmae/puk,
Iran'gwa hab#365;i,” Chosun Ilbo, August 5, 1994, http://www.chosun.com.
26 Korea Times, December 30, 1989, p. 4, in “Missile Cooperation with North Korea Alleged,” JPRS-TND-90-002, January
17, 1990, p. 12; Steven Emerson, “The Postwar Scud Boom,” Wall Street Journal, July 10, 1991, p. A12.
27 “Arms Transfer Tables,” Defense & Foreign Affairs' Strategic Panning Policy, January 2002, in Lexis-Nexis,
http://www.lexis-nexis.com; Eli J. Lake and Richard Sale, “Egypt Buys Missiles from North Korea,” United Press
International, June 18, 2001; Mikhail Falkov, “Jerusalem Attacks Cairo Via Washington,”

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And where do you get the madcap idea South Korea isn't worried?

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They have the world's largest inventory of ballistic missiles.

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To say South Korea isn't worried because North Korea would be destroyed if they attacked is like saying the US wasn't worried about the USSR's missiles because they would have been destroyed if they attacked.

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Originally posted by Luke T.

...The sigh is over your attempt to make something out of Rumsfeld's non-executive position on a Swedish company's board during the Clinton Administration into some kind of bizarro world Bush thing.

I mean, someone had to go to great leaps and twists to come up with that one, and that was the best they could do? And you just went and parrotted it without looking into it.

So don't give me any crap about trying to blame Clinton. I was simply clearing up your crap trying to blame Bush over a contract that a little teensy bit of investigation shows was signed during Clinton's time.

ETA: And now that you know the 200 Million dollar contract was signed under Clinton's watch, do you still think something diabolical was going on? If not, then you are a hypocrite.

I don't blame Clinton or Bush. I blame...North Korea!

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Originally posted by Luke T.

If you have been reading my posts, beskeptigal, then you would know that in 2002, when according to your Rummy article the SecDef put on his second face, the US confronted the DPRK with evidence that the DPRK had a weapons grade uranium enrichment program going since 1995.

Now think about that. Let's connect the dots for you one more time.

1994. An agreement is reached whereby the DPRK will stop its plutonium reprocessing. It is also agreed they will not do any uranium enriching, weapons-grade or non-weapons-grade.

In exchange, North Korea will be given some light-water reactors, to be paid for by South Korea.

So in 2000, a Swedish company gets a small slice of the pie.

Everything seems just fine. Except North Korea during this entire period since the agreement was signed has not allowed full inspections. I believe I linked the evidence for that, but in case I didn't, see my next post.

So in 2002, the US confronts the DPRK with evidence that they have a uranium enrichment program going on, in violation of the 1994 agreement.

Now how is that two-faced, exactly?

If you are trying to get someone to stop building nukes, and they promise they will, and you try to provide them with the means to abide by that promise, and then you find they have broken that promise, which one of you is two-faced?

Uh, that would be North Korea.

Not Clinton. Not Bush. North Korea.

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Originally posted by @tomic

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They have the world's largest inventory of ballistic missiles.

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Is this a joke? Sounds like smelly BS to me. A third world nation with the world's largest inventory of ballistic missles? What happened? Did we fire all of ours into Iraq one day? Oh, wait a minute...

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To say South Korea isn't worried because North Korea would be destroyed if they attacked is like saying the US wasn't worried about the USSR's missiles because they would have been destroyed if they attacked.

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How many South Koreans have you talked to about this? I think my primary source trumps your wild ass guess.

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Originally posted by beskeptigal

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Originally posted by Luke T.

...The sigh is over your attempt to make something out of Rumsfeld's non-executive position on a Swedish company's board during the Clinton Administration into some kind of bizarro world Bush thing.

I mean, someone had to go to great leaps and twists to come up with that one, and that was the best they could do? And you just went and parrotted it without looking into it.

So don't give me any crap about trying to blame Clinton. I was simply clearing up your crap trying to blame Bush over a contract that a little teensy bit of investigation shows was signed during Clinton's time.

ETA: And now that you know the 200 Million dollar contract was signed under Clinton's watch, do you still think something diabolical was going on? If not, then you are a hypocrite.

I don't blame Clinton or Bush. I blame...North Korea!

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You seem to have this idea I am some naive little hippy or something. You couldn't be more wrong and it colors your interpretation of my posts.

My comments followed Original_Intent's "China's moral outrage is just about oxymoronic," and I replied, So is Bush's. You don't see more than that in my post.

While I don't find Rumsfeld so innocent, you misunderstood the point of my bringing up those links. The point was the same as yours, blaming Clinton was absurd. US relations with Korea did not originate with nor confine itself to the Clinton administration.

It's common sense that unfortunately many who suck up the Bush talking points fail to exercise. But worse than that, the Republicans are exerting considerable effort to push those talking points on any senseless person who will indeed suck them up.

As far as Rumsfeld having no say in the company, not all influence comes directly through the chain of command. But mostly what I was pointing out was to say he knew nothing of the Korea deal, Rumsfeld had to be one of three things,

a liar
an incompetent board member, or
an absentee board member on the books for payout purposes.

And since there was a comment about him attending most meetings, the latter choice was unlikely.

I think there is clear evidence Bush and his cronies are closely tied to the defense industry. They are closely tied to most big corporate interests. You may not share the concern I have over that fact, but I assure you I am neither uninformed, nor a flake.

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Originally posted by @tomic

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They have the world's largest inventory of ballistic missiles.

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Is this a joke? Sounds like smelly BS to me. A third world nation with the world's largest inventory of ballistic missles? What happened? Did we fire all of ours into Iraq one day? Oh, wait a minute...

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North Korea's active military is one of the largest in the world at 1.2 million men. The troops are backed up by a significant missile arsenal that can hit targets in South Korea, and Japan.

Steve Inskeep talks to Joseph Bermudez, Senior Analyst for Jane's Defense Weekly, about North Korea's military capabilities.

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Innskeep: Once you get beyond nuclear weapons, what is their greatest strategic threat to their neighbors?

Bermudez: Their ballistic missile force. They probably have, numerically, the largest ballistic missile force in the world.

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