North Korea in the news

I’m trying to make heads or tails out of these two apparently conflicting stories. First, the Associated Press quotes South Korea’s chief intelliegence officer:

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea has facilities on standby to test a nuclear explosion and could do so at any time, the chief of South Korea’s main spy agency said Monday, according to a lawmaker and a government official.

“Facilities for a nuclear test are always on standby and considering the North’s capability, the possibility (of a test) is always open,” spy agency chief Kim Seung-kyu was quoted as telling a closed meeting of the parliamentary intelligence committee.

However, Kim said there is no sign that a test is imminent, according to two people at the meeting, Rep. Shin Ki-nam, head of the committee, and a government official who requested anonymity, citing policy.

“Currently, however, there is no direct sign or movement that North Korea is preparing a nuclear test,” Kim was quoted as saying.

And then the Associated Press cites a report:

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea has removed all long-range missile equipment from a launch site, significantly lowering the possibility of a new test launch, the chief of South Korea’s main spy agency said Monday, according to Yonhap news agency.

Intelligence reports have said North Korea may have moved two long-range Taepodong-2 missiles, believed potentially capable of reaching the United States, to a launch site on its east coast before test-firing one of them July 5.

South Korean officials have said fresh intelligence showed that the remaining missile may have been moved somewhere else.

On Monday, Kim Seung-kyu, head of the National Intelligence Service, said the North “withdrew all equipment related to Taepodong-2” from the site in mid-July, ending “missile activity in the region,” according to Yonhap.

Confused? Me too. Two conflicting reports on the same day from the same new agency apparently quoting the same man from, in all likelihood, the same speech.

UPDATE

Courtesy of The Marmot’s Hole we have a couple of  interesting papers on North Korea.  The first is a CRS assessment of the North Korean missile threat to the United States.  Separate the hype from the facts.  The second is a report from Marcus Noland of the Institute of International Economics on the prospective economic effects on north-east Asian economies of North Korea’s going nuclear.  Not dogs and cats living together but not a walk in the park, either.

3 comments… add one
  • Hmm,

    Not sure what you’re confused about. North Korean nuclear and missile testing aren’t directly related in a technical sense. There’s apparently activity at a site that might be North Korea’s underground nuclear test site, which prompted the first report. The second report is likely derived from satellite imagery showing the launch equipment gone. Unless I’m missing something, why would testing on these two programs be linked?

  • I’m only confused in that they’re proceeding with testing of any kind. Why proceed with one and not the other? Can’t walk and chew gum at the same time?

  • That could be the case with untested technology. Perhaps they discovered a technical issue with the missile that required taking it down.

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