NEW CIA CHIEF HITS NORTH KOREA'S WEAPONS PROLIFERATION ACTIONS

North Korea's blatant disregard for the International Atomic Energy Agency, its recent development of a 1,000 km SCUD missile, its maintenance of two nuclear reactors in Yongbyon and finally its hasty willingness to export weapons technology and assistance to any state with money to buy them, put the DPRK leadership "almost in a class by itself in the arms proliferation world," CIA chief James Woolsey told a Senate committee last week.
Pyongyang still refuses to allow IAEA inspectors into the country despite agreeing to do so last year and is obviously concealing evidence of nuclear weapons-related programs, Woolsey further told the panel.

ONE-BOMB POSSIBILITY A CONCERNI "The greatest concern is that North Korea has already manufactured enough material for at least one nuclear weapon and is hiding this from the IAEA," Woolsey told the panel. A DPRK nuclear bomb would threaten U.S. troops in Asia as well as key allies there such as South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, Woolsey said. Likewise, North Korea might use an increased military capability, like a two stage ballistic missile, to disrupt possible future U.S. attempts to build coalitions in Asia and even Europe and the Middle East, he warned.
Pyongyang has sold Iran and Syria extended range SCUD C missiles and is apparently prepared to sell to Libya, he said. Several Persian Gulf states have bought entire systems, and production technology from the North Koreans, but there is no evidence that the DPRK has exported any chemical or biological weapons, he told the panel. The range of the original Soviet SCUD C is 450 km, compared with 300 km for the SCUB B model. North Korea, like lraq, has worked to increase this range.

CHINA BEHAVING BETTER THAN NORTH KOREA: While both China and North Korea are at the top of the list in arms proliferation, they are different in that "North Korea has no trouble selling anything to anyone, but China, while it does do some things we [the U.S] wished they didn't, has certainly modified its behavior," the new CIA chief pointed out. While Chinese arms deals with Algeria, Syria, Pakistan and Iran [which is one of the PRC's biggest custome$] appear in accordance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty which China signed in 1991, they are "worrisome," Woolsey said.
Defense Focus