SHOW: CNN WOLF BLITZER REPORTS 5:00 PM EST January 05, 2005
North Korea's Hiding Places Found?
New pictures from space show North Korea's underground hiding spots, is the United States in a better position to take out Kim Jong Il's military?
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre. Thanks for that report.
American military planners have long considered communist North Korea a potentially formidable battlefield foe. But a recent discovery has turned up an apparent North Korean weak spot. Our national security correspondent David Ensor joining us now live with this story.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATL. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this was a fascinating look from space into the secretive hermit kingdom.
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(voice-over): The satellite pictures document North Korea's obsession with tunnels and underground facilities like this airbase with runways that runs into tunnels under a mountain. The National Resources Defense Council Team also used pictures taken from the shuttle. But if the hidden bases make sense for North Korea when they were built, they are not safe from today's American weapons.
JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: That might have worked back in the 1980s, but with precision munitions today the North Koreans have just narrowed down the number of aim points for our smart bombs.
ENSOR: NRDC scientists say the imagery suggests the earth- penetrating nuclear weapon the Bush administration wants to restart research on would not be needed to stop North Korean underground weapons of any kind.
(on camera): So basically, if there's something under a mountain, you just blow up the entrance?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ENSOR: The satellite pictures also show North Korea's nuclear weapons facilities, the biggest threat to South Korea, say the experts would be a nuclear weapon on its capital sole dropped from an aircraft. But the pictures show North Korea's air force and navy are antiquated and decrepit. 48 small submarines, some Russian-made MIG jets, but believe it or not, most of the transport aircraft are (UNINTELLIGIBLE) planes.
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(on camera): There were some defense and intelligence officials in the audience at the presentation today. Once or twice the presenters asked them to speak up if they knew something more from the much higher resolution images that the U.S. government has access to. They didn't speak up and that material is, of course, classified -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Very interesting. David, thank you very much -- David Ensor reporting.
And please stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
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