Think tank says North to stir trouble
Published: 26 Dec. 2009, 07:31
North Korea may detonate a third nuclear device and provoke border clashes in the future that could escalate tension on the Korean Peninsula, a report by a state-run think tank said yesterday.
In a report on possible developments in 2010, the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses warned Pyongyang may test another nuclear device to show the world that it has no plans to give up its atomic weapons program.
“Such a step could highlight that North Korea is a nuclear power,” the report said. It added that North Korea might even launch an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching U.S. territories in the Pacific and the western coast of North America.
The country tested its first nuclear weapon in October 2006 and another more powerful device on May 25. The explosion that took place earlier in the year is estimated to have had a yield five times that of the 2006 device.
“The recent explosion has been estimated to have had a 4-kiloton yield, indicating that the North has made headway in developing an operational nuclear weapon,” the latest findings said. KIDA said that if the international community starts to accept the North as a nuclear power, this can cause public opinion in South Korea to move toward building its own nuclear deterrent capabilities.
In addition, the institute said the North may try to incite military clashes along the inter-Korean border.
It said if the North were to invade islands in the Yellow Sea just south of the Northern Limit Line, it could trigger a strong response by South Korea. Such developments may cause the dismantlement of the armistice signed after the Korean War and weaken the NLL that has been the de facto sea border between the two countries.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s ceremonial head of state complained about threats from the outside world when he met with a group of U.S. businesspeople recently, a report said Thursday.
Charles Boyd, president of Business Executives for National Security, a nonpartisan Washington-based organization, led a group of U.S. businessmen to Pyongyang earlier this month to meet with Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and other officials in the reclusive communist state.
“Kim Yong-nam, president of the Supreme People’s Assembly, told him how threatened North Korea felt by its neighbors,” said the report carried by the Web site North Korean Economy Watch.
A retired U.S. Air Force four-star general, Boyd told the Web site, “To the extent that I could, I think I tried to relieve him of some of his anxiety about the external threats to the country.” Yonhap
In a report on possible developments in 2010, the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses warned Pyongyang may test another nuclear device to show the world that it has no plans to give up its atomic weapons program.
“Such a step could highlight that North Korea is a nuclear power,” the report said. It added that North Korea might even launch an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching U.S. territories in the Pacific and the western coast of North America.
The country tested its first nuclear weapon in October 2006 and another more powerful device on May 25. The explosion that took place earlier in the year is estimated to have had a yield five times that of the 2006 device.
“The recent explosion has been estimated to have had a 4-kiloton yield, indicating that the North has made headway in developing an operational nuclear weapon,” the latest findings said. KIDA said that if the international community starts to accept the North as a nuclear power, this can cause public opinion in South Korea to move toward building its own nuclear deterrent capabilities.
In addition, the institute said the North may try to incite military clashes along the inter-Korean border.
It said if the North were to invade islands in the Yellow Sea just south of the Northern Limit Line, it could trigger a strong response by South Korea. Such developments may cause the dismantlement of the armistice signed after the Korean War and weaken the NLL that has been the de facto sea border between the two countries.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s ceremonial head of state complained about threats from the outside world when he met with a group of U.S. businesspeople recently, a report said Thursday.
Charles Boyd, president of Business Executives for National Security, a nonpartisan Washington-based organization, led a group of U.S. businessmen to Pyongyang earlier this month to meet with Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and other officials in the reclusive communist state.
“Kim Yong-nam, president of the Supreme People’s Assembly, told him how threatened North Korea felt by its neighbors,” said the report carried by the Web site North Korean Economy Watch.
A retired U.S. Air Force four-star general, Boyd told the Web site, “To the extent that I could, I think I tried to relieve him of some of his anxiety about the external threats to the country.” Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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