British report: N. Korea
sending missiles to Libya
Jim
Lea
Osan bureau chief
Libya has received 50 North Korean Rodong missiles and launchers which give it the capability of hitting Israel, according to a report Sunday in Britain’s Daily Telegraph.
The newspaper said nine engineers and technicians will make the weapons operational over the next two years. Libya is expected to receive three more shipments of missiles from Pyongyang, the newspaper added.
The Rodong missile is a Soviet-designed Scud modified by the North to increase its range. It can carry chemical, biological and, possibly, nuclear warheads.
A Pentagon report earlier this month said North Korea now has an inventory of more than 500 Rodong missiles and is producing more. In the past year, the report said, more of those missiles have been deployed along the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea.
The report also said Pyongyang sells its missiles and technology “to anyone with hard currency.”
North Korea has not test-fired a missile since August 1998. In late 1999, it agreed not to fire any more missiles as long as discussions to improve relations with the United States continue.
U.S. and North Korean officials are to hold the latest round of those talks this month. Washington is trying to persuade Pyong-yang to end its missile proliferation, but no real headway has been made in that direction so far.
North Korean officials, including the country’s
paramount leader Kim Jong Il, have said missile sales are a significant source of the cash
needed to keep the country’s ailing economy from collapsing.
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