U.S. says North Korea making major improvements to military

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite its economic crisis, North Korea has made major military improvements including placing large numbers of artillery guns and rocket launchers near the Demilitarized Zone that separates communist North from U.S.-backed South Korea, a U.S. defense department report says.

While noting the positive outcome of a North-South summit meeting in June, the Pentagon report to Congress described North Korean President Kim Jong-Il as bent on bolstering his nation's preparedness for war.

The North is in position to mount a major attack against the outnumbered army of South Korea "with minimal additional preparation, although at great risk," the report said. It did not predict renewed war between the Koreas but stressed that "the Korean Peninsula remains a dangerous theater."

The report was provided to the U.S. House and Senate armed services committees. A copy was provided to The Associated Press on Thursday.

MESSAGE BOARD North and South Korea

In assessing positive signs of change, 50 years after the start of the Korean War, the report said the June summit meeting between Kim and South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung holds the promise of reconciliation.

But it added that there are no firm indicators that the communist North is ready to turn away from its longstanding goal of reunifying the Koreas by force, or that it is undertaking true economic reforms.

Speaking in Seoul on Thursday after talks with his South Korean counterpart, Defense Secretary William Cohen echoed the main themes of the report to Congress. He said North Korea's chemical, biological, nuclear and long-range missile programs continue to pose a threat to South Korea and the United States.

Cohen noted, however, that the first-ever meeting next week between the defense ministers of South and North Korea could set the stage for significant progress on reducing the threat of war.

The major components of North Korea's economy -- power generation and distribution, communications and transportation -- are failing. If economic conditions worsen, "we must consider that the North Korean economy could break down completely," precipitating social chaos, the report said.

If that happens, there likely would be a flood of refugees and the potential for a military coup or civil war, it added. On the other hand, the economic aid the North will receive as a result of the June summit makes this scenario less likely, it said.

The report made these other points:

-- Fully 70 percent of the North's active-duty force is situated within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, that was created as a buffer zone when the Korean War ended in a truce in July 1953. That means there are about 700,000 troops, 8,000 artillery guns and 2,000 tanks near the DMZ.

-- Large numbers of long-range 240mm multiple rocker launcher systems and 170mm self-propelled artillery guns have been moved to sheltered sites near the DMZ within the past year. The North also has placed more anti-tank barriers in that area and produced more fighter aircraft in the past year.

-- The North is expanding its ammunition and equipment storage capacities by building additional underground and sheltered facilities near the DMZ. Current ammunition stockpiles are estimated at over 1 million tons. A major war reserve of petroleum exists in the North despite the country's severe fuel shortages.

-- Applying lessons learned from the U.S. military campaigns against Iraq in 1991 and Yugoslavia in 1999, the North has modified key defense facilities, dispersed its forces and improved its camouflage and concealment effort.

-- The South Korean armed forces are smaller in number than the North's, but when combined with the 37,000 American forces stationed in the South, they have a qualitative advantage. The South's army numbers 560,000 troops, not counting a reserve force of 3 million.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)
North Korea: Politics and Government
North Korea

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