War called possibility on peninsula

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War called possibility on peninsula

The U.S. Department of Defense estimates that the Korean Peninsula is the most likely place for a large-scale regional war in the near future, a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies stated.

The report, "Proliferation in North Korea, Iran and Iraq," was released Jan. 30. The Pentagon said North Korea has challenged the security of the United States and its allies. "The most likely large-scale regional war scenario over the near term, which would involve the United States, would be on the Korean Peninsula."

North Korean troops are "deployed close to the border with South Korea in an offensively oriented posture," the report said. It expressed concerns about North Korea's continued nuclear weapons program.

The report was released after U.S. President George W. Bush's State of the Union address. "The report evidently shows why Mr. Bush used the term 'axis of evil' to address the North," said Representative Cho Woong-kyu of the Grand National Party, who attended a discussion for lawmakers of the Asia-Pacific region at the Center for Strategic and International Studies last month.

The U.S. Defense Department believes that the North Korean regime is not only a developer but also a major supplier of weapons of mass destruction. Iran and Pakistan are importers of North Korean ballistic missiles and technologies, the report stated.

Concerns on proliferation of biological and chemical weapons by the North were discussed in the report, which also warned of the serious threats on the peninsula and Northeast Asia posed by North Korea's conventional weapons, nuclear weapons and missile program.

South Korean defense analysts said there was no striking difference between the report's data on North Korean weapons development and the South Korean National Defense Ministry's Defense White Paper.

by Lee Sang-il

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