PREPARED STATEMENT OF KO YOUNG-HWAN
Former Official, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
NORTH KOREAN MISSILE PROLIFERATION
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL SECURITY,
PROLIFERATION, AND FEDERAL SERVICES
of the
COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
OCTOBER 21 1997
I am Ko Young-hwan. I served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
North Korea from 1978 to 1991. I defected from my post as the 1st
Secretary of the DPRK Embassy in Congo in 1991. I would like to
describe North Korean missiles.
Missile Production
Recognizing the dire need for missile development, Kim Il-sung
established the National Defense University (NDU) in Hamheung in 1965.
After the Pueblo incident in January of 1968, it was moved to the city
of Kangkye which defense facilities are concentrated in. The Kangkye
NDU is run directly by the Ministry of People's Armed Forces.
The elite in the military and the North Korean society are screened
to enter the University where they study for seven years to graduate.
The 1st Department was the Department of Missile Engines.
My elder brother, the first son of our family, graduated from the
Department. The text books he had studied ranged from designs of V-1
and V-2 type missiles to those of the Soviet Union-made short-range
surface-to-surface missiles, commonly referred to as Frog missiles.
In 1965 Kim Il-sung said to Kim Chang-bong, National Defense
Minister, ``it is imperative for us to develop rockets for war, which
is why I built the NDU.'' He also said, ``if a war breaks out, the U.S.
and Japan will also be involved. In order to prevent their involvement,
we have to be able to produce rockets which fly as far as Japan.
Therefore, it is the mandate for the NDU to nurture those personnel who
are able to develop mid- and long-range missiles.''
This remark was written on the first page of the text books my
brother studied at the NDU. He graduated from the Kangkye NDU in 1972
and was sent as a missile engine design expert to a design lab code
named as ``January 18th Machinery Factory'' in Kagamri, Kaecheon-kun of
the southern province of Pyongahn. The ``Jan. 18th Factory'' served as
an underground munitions factory which produces engines for missiles,
rocket ships, torpedoes and tanks. According to my brother, there were
over 10,000 people working in the factory. Since the end of 1970's,
``Jan. 18th Factory'' has begun reverse-engineering of Frog missiles.
In 1981 my brother (Ko Bang-nam) was transferred to the design labs
of the ``Surface to Sea Missile Factory'' in ``Pyonayang Mankyungdae
Yakjun Machinery Factory'' located in Yongseong-Dong of the Yongseung
District in Pyongyang.
He often told me that he was involved in the production of missiles
which can destroy the warships of the 7th Fleet of the U.S. naval
forces which will appear in the East Sea if a war breaks out on the
Korean Peninsula.
According to him, the North conducted test firings of the missiles
on the coastal areas of the Yellow Sea during the night time to avoid
detection by the U.S. reconnaissance satellites.
In 1988 he was transferred to the missile engine design lab of the
National Defense Institute, also referred to as the 2nd Natural Science
Institute at Yongseung District in Pyongyang, where he developed mostly
surface-to-surface Scud missiles and enhanced their capabilities. He
said that North Korean missiles had the capability to protect the
entire territory of the South and the waters of the Korean Peninsula.
According to him, there are other missile factories other than the
``118 Machinery Factory'' and the ``Yakjun Machinery Factory in
Mankyungdae'' such as the ``Pyongyang Pig Factory'' which is also
referred to as the ``125 Factory'' in Joongyee-Dong, the Hyengjesan
District of Pyongyang.
He said that the North purchased the Soviet Union-made SS missiles,
French Exocet air-to-ship missiles and Stinger missiles for reverse-
engineering production.
There is the 2nd Economic Committee under the Party Central
Military Commission. The Committee is responsible for the defense
industry in the North. Secretary Chun Byung-ho of the Party Central
Committee is in charge of the 2nd Economic Committee and Kim Chul-man,
alternate member of the Party Political Bureau serves as the head of
the Committee. Located in Kangdong-kun of Pyongyang, the 2nd Economic
Committee is composed of eight General Bureaus, the National Defense
Institute and material trading companies. The eight General Bureaus
produce a variety of munitions. The 4th General Bureau is in charge of
missile production.
The Maebong General Bureau under the General Staff of the Ministry
of People's Armed Forces is importing and exporting the parts of
missiles.
The Deployment of Missiles
According to Im Young-sun, a defector from North Korea and former
leader of guard platoon in the Military Construction Bureau of the
People's Armed Forces Ministry, North Korea has deployed missiles as
follows: The Military Construction Bureau (MCB) completed the
construction of a long-range missile base in Paekun-ri, Kusong County,
North Pyong-an Province in 1986. The 117th Regiment under the MCB
completed the construction of a missile base in Hwadae County, North
Hamgyong Province in 1988.
The Taepo-Dong missile base in Hwadae County is an underground
facility with surface-to-surface missiles designed to hit the Japanese
area. For security reasons, all inhabitants residing in the area within
the radius of 80 Km of this base have been ordered to move out.
The MCB started to build a missile base in Chungganjin, Huchang
County, Jagang Province in 1990 and completed the construction in 1995.
This base was targeted at U.S. troops in Okinawa.
The 111th Regiment of the MCD started to construct an underground
missile base in Ok-pyong Rodongja-ku, Munchon County, Kangwon Province
in 1991. This base was scheduled to be completed within 6 or 7 years
after the commencement of the work, and was targeted at Japanese
islands and U.S. military bases in Japan.
The 110th and 115th Regiments of the MCB completed the construction
of a missile base on Mayang Island, Mayang-ri, Shinpo City, South
Hamgyong Province in late 1980. The MCB also constructed a missile base
designed to cover the West side of Japan.
The MCB completed the construction of an intermediate-range missile
base on Mt. Kanggamchan located on the opposite side of the Kane-po
Fisheries Cooperatives in Jungsan County, South Pyongan Province around
1985. The North Korean Navy also completed the construction of a
surface-to-ship missile base in early 1990 on the same site.
I believe that the MCB is currently constructing a long-range
surface-to-surface missile base in Doksong County, South Hamgyong
Province. North Korea has given various names to the Taepo-Dong
missiles, such as Hwasong (Mars)-1, Hwasong-2, Moksong (Jupiter)-1,
Moksong-2, and so on.
The Export of Missiles
The organizations responsible for exporting missiles include the
Yongaksan Trading Company, and the Changkwang Trading Company under the
Second Economic Commission, the 15th Bureau (the General Bureau of
Technology) in the Armed Forces Ministry, the Maebong General Bureau
(the Maebong Trading Company) in the General Staff of the People's
Army.
The story I heard from Colonel Kim Young-hwan, one of my seniors at
Pyongyang Foreign Language College who later served as a chief of a
department in the Daesong General Bureau and then as the deputy chief
of the Maebong General Bureau (official title abroad: vice director of
the Maebong Trading Company), is as follows: North Korea has been
exporting missiles mainly to Iran, Syria, Egypt and Libya. In August
1988 when I was chatting with him at his home, he told me that Egypt
was North Korea's main counterpart for developing missiles jointly,
Iran was also a counterpart for developing missiles jointly though the
country was buying North Korean missiles, and Syria was buying North
Korean missiles.
Colonel Kim Young-hwan said that ``the export of missiles occupies
the largest portion of North Korea's total export volume, and that if
North Korea is unable to export missiles to the Middle East countries
then its import of crude oil must be stopped.'' He also said that North
Korea was earning about $1 billion a year when the export was smooth.
In February 1991, when I was serving as a member of the North
Korean Embassy in Congo, the Foreign Ministry office in Pyongyang sent
us a telegram message which instructed us to take out a roll of North
Korean film and other propaganda materials from Daeheng-ho, a North
Korean freighter which sailed out from the North Korean port of Haeju
and was bound for Syria, because the freighter was scheduled to stop at
the Congolese port of Pointenoire. The message also instructed us to
help the freighter refill fuel at the port. But around that time the
world media began to report that the North Korean freighter seemed to
be carrying missiles, and then Pyongyang ordered the freighter to
return home.
Later, the Foreign Ministry sent us a message saying that the
freighter returned home for an inevitable reason, and the materials
would be delivered later.
North Korean Ambassador to Congo Ryu Kwan-jin, who was a close
friend of Chang Song-taik (Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law) told me that
he once heard Chang saying that North Korea had been experiencing
difficulties in exporting surface-to-surface missiles to such countries
as Syria, Libya and Iran due to U.S. reconnaissance satellites, and
therefore, North Korea was transporting major parts of missiles by the
planes.
North Korea has been exporting not only its own missiles but also
Chinese-made missiles. Kim Yang-gon, who served as a counselor in
charge of trade at the North Korean Embassy in Zaire in April 1990,
told me that North Korea had been importing Chinese silkworm missiles
via railroads and then exporting it to Iran and Syria through
searoutes, thus earning enormous amount of commission. Kim Jong-il was
known to be satisfied with the trade.
Exporting missiles is crucial to the North Korea's economy. Kim
Jong-il regime is likely to continue missile production in order to
attack ROK, Japan, and the United States in war time, and to get oil
from Mideast countries as well. Therefore I would like to say that we
have to work together to support ROK to improve its missile ability
against North Korea's threat to keep peace in the Korean peninsula.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
