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Deviation in North Korean strategy |
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August 15, 2000
SEOUL (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said he was not serious when he told Russian President Vladimir Putin about a possible deal to stop his country's missile development, according to South Korean reports Monday. At a July summit in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, Kim and Putin discussed the North's missile development as well as their opposition to Washington's plan to develop a missile defense system. Later, Putin quoted Kim as saying that the North was developing rockets for peaceful space research, but would stop it if other countries put the North's satellites into orbit. Putin revealed the North's alleged peace offer ahead of a meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations at Okinawa, Japan, prompting a flurry of speculation by U.S. and Japanese officials about what exactly Kim meant. In a meeting Saturday with 46 South Korean media executives, Kim said he made the remarks quoted by Putin as "a passing, laughing matter." Details of Kim's remarks were disclosed in South Korean newspapers after the executives returned home on Saturday. "I told Putin that dlrs 200 million to dlrs 300 million is needed to launch a rocket and that if the U.S. launches our satellites into orbit instead, we'll stop developing them," the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper on Monday quoted Kim as saying. "I made this and other remarks regarding scientific technology research of rockets as a passing, laughing matter. Putin did not respond at that time but he later seized on it firmly and things happened like that," Kim reportedly said. Kim also appeared bemused by U.S. concerns about his country's missile development. Washington is considering construction of a multibillion dollar missile defense system, partly to thwart any threat from Pyongyang.
"Let's assume we develop the rockets, produce inter-continental ballistic missiles and fire two or three at the United States. Would we be able to win? And yet, the United States makes issue with this," Kim told the South Korean media executives. Kim said North Korea has been selling "rockets" to Iran and Syria. North Korea previously has admitted selling missiles abroad, but never identified its customers. Kim said his country, which lacks economic resources, has to develop missiles to earn badly needed foreign currency. "Developing a rocket generates hundreds of millions of dollars. How could you stop it?" he was quoted as saying in South Korean newspaper reports. Kim made it clear that North Korea would not stop its missile development unless it is paid for an expected financial loss. In talks with the United States, the North demanded dlrs 1 billion a year for three years as compensation. Washington rejected the proposal. "The U.S. does not want to give us money, but they want to stop our research. That gives them quite a headache," Kim was quoted as saying. North Korea shocked the region in 1998 when it test-fired a missile which flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific. The North claimed at that time that it launched a satellite into orbit. Kim also told the South Koreans that North Korea is ready to normalize relations with Washington if it is removed from the U.S. list of countries that sponsor terrorism. Pyongyang was put on the U.S. list because of its alleged involvement in the midair bombing of a Korean Air plane near Myanmar, also known as Burma, in 1987. All 115 people aboard were killed. North Korea is one of seven countries branded by the U.S. State Department as a sponsor of terrorism. Under U.S. law, this bars all but humanitarian aid to the Pyongyang government and rules out bank loans from international financial organizations, which are heavily influenced by Washington. |
