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Testimony of Bok Koo Lee (Alias)
Before the Subcommittee on Financial Management, the Budget,And
International SecurityCommittee on Governmental AffairsUnited
States Senate
May 20, 2003
My name is Bok Koo Lee. I defected from North Korea in July
1997. Between December 1988 until July 1997, I worked at Plant
#38 in Huichon, Jagang Province in the North Central part
of North Korea. Among the 11 Subplants at this munitions complex
which was called Chungnyon Jeonghi Yonhap Kiupso, meaning
Youth Electric Combined Company, subplants 603 & 604 produced
missile parts, mainly electronics. I held the position of
Head of technical department at Subplant 603 when I left.
My responsibilities included the development, production and
programming of guidance devices and systems for the missile
guidance control vehicle. My technical experience is in building
of components for and programming of the operating systems
connected to missile control vehicles. These support vehicles
are used to launch the missiles together with the transporter-erector-launcher
(TEL).
In the interest of the short time that I have, I would like
to limit my testimony to the direct and personal knowledge
arising out of my experience with the missile guidance control
vehicles. I would like to request that your questions and
inquiry be limited to those aspects of my testimony that go
to my direct experience and knowledge. While I would welcome
questions into other areas, please understand that if I do
not have direct knowledge or experience, I will be qualifying
my comments appropriately.
Let me also say that while I was in North Korea, I did not
go very hungry or was subjected to unusual human rights violations.
Of course, we were constantly deprived of even the most basic
rights that all of you enjoy B the right to speak freely,
the right of free travel, the right to earn a living by private
means, and others. But compared to other North Koreans, I
was relatively well-off. This may lead you to ask about my
motives regarding my defection. I will not dwell too much
on this but I left North Korea and crossed into China as a
refugee because I wanted a better life for myself. Even though
I had started out doing intelligence work for the North Korean
regime and was trained in electronic engineering from the
National Defense Academy, and was useful to the regime, it
was clear that I would be trapped in this kind of work at
Huichon missile factory for the rest of life and that I would
die there.
Let me now turn to a secret mission that I and five of my
colleagues from Huichon undertook in the summer of 1989. Although
that is almost 14 years old now, and I will defer to your
judgment regarding its relevance or importance, it was clear
to me that it had great importance to the North Korean regime.
It was at that time that North Korea=s missile export program
began in earnest. I did not know at the time, but I helped
my former country sell its missile technology to a middle
eastern country.
As I said, 5 of my colleagues and myself were summoned from
Subplant #603 to Nampo Seaport. There we boarded a freighter
and was locked into the deck below. Since we did not have
watches or any kind of time markers, I really do not have
a precise idea of how long the sea-voyage took, but I believe
it was about 15 days based on my sleep cycles. Obviously,
we were not able to look out because there were no portholes.
When we finally arrive at our destination, we were ordered
out into the bay area below the deck and I was surprise to
find the missile guidance control vehicle, the very one that
I was intimately familiar with. We were instructed to get
into the vehicle and it rolled out of freighter via the back
exit which I assume was flush with the dock.
The missile guidance control vehicle is more like a heavy
armored truck. The small windows in that vehicle were curtained
up that we were not allowed to open to see outside. As a missile
guidance control vehicle, the area where my colleagues and
I operated is about 3 meters by 4. Each side has three stools
with a command seat in the middle where our commander can
sit and put in the coordinates. We had our own food and urinal
inside the truck, so they could have us locked up until the
truck got to where it needed to go. We traveled over land
for what I think was about two days.
When we finally arrived at our destination and parked, the
commander yelled "Battle Ready!" While doing the
routine for battle readiness, we opened up the curtains to
find out for the first time that we were in a desert area.
We also opened the back door to connect the power cables to
the on-board batteries. Although it was nighttime, we could
see and immediately we realized that we were in a Middle Eastern
country, judging by the foreign soldier and his physical makeup.
The way our commander talked with this counterpart soldier
outside the vehicle and the fact that all the coordinates
were already programmed in made us believe that all this was
pre-planned and expected.
Then, the commander returned and looked at this watch, when
he yelled "Storm!" meaning "Battle!" Each
of us immediately assumed our seats on the stools. I held
the fourth stool seat. The man in each stool seat reported
"Ready!" When the sixth man reported his readiness,
the commander ordered "Launch!" Then the sixth man
pushed the launch lever. Each man monitored the progress of
the missile that was launched at a remote site unknown to
us. All we did was to go through a pre-planned launch sequence,
and the whole thing lasted less than five minutes.
When we were done, we got out of the control vehicle and taken
to a small covered truck that was not ours. I was surprised
that we were leaving the missile guidance control vehicle.
It occurred to me that our job was to demonstrate a live missile
launch and to deliver it after showing that it worked. We
took another bumpy ride and when we were asked to come out,
I was surprised that we were back to the below deck area where
my colleagues and I had spent 15 days traveling there. Within
a few hours from our arrival, the ship started the voyage
which took another 15 days to take us back to Nampo, North
Korea. We were of course curious and had questions but since
it was clear that we were constantly watched by the surveillance
camera even in the hull of the freighter, we couldn't talk
to each other during our voyage back. When you live that way,
it becomes part of life.
I would like to stop my testimony here, and defer the rest
of details to the closed session.
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