National News

North Korea defector testifies 90% of missile parts smuggled from Japan

A man identified as a former North Korean missile scientist told a U.S. Senate hearing on May 20 that more than 90 percent of the components used in Pyongyang's missile program were smuggled in from Japan.

The man, who has assumed the name Lee Bok Koo, said the parts were smuggled out by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun) aboard a passenger-cargo ship that plies between Niigata in Japan and Wonsan in North Korea.

He also said he was deeply involved in test-firing Pyongyang's missiles in Iran.

"I worked for nine years as an expert in the guidance system for the North Korean missile industry, and I can tell you definitely that over 90 percent of these parts come from Japan," Lee said. "The way they bring this in is through ... the North Korean association inside Japan, and they bring it by ship every three months."

In Tokyo, Chongryun denied the man's allegation as groundless, claiming that the ship "legitimately transports export goods and humanitarian aid supplies based on Japan's laws."

Lee was one of two men identified as high-ranking North Korean defectors who spoke at the Senate session. Led into the hearing wearing black hoods, they spoke from behind a screen to conceal their identities.

Lee's compatriot, identified only as defector No. 1, said he was a former high-level government official in the reclusive state.

"North Korea must be the only country on Earth to run a drug production-trafficking business at the state level," he said.

He alleged that the North Korean government, desperate for hard currency, produced large quantities of heroin and methamphetamines.

Opium is sent to a pharmaceutical plant in Chungjin city where it is "processed and refined into heroin under the supervision of seven to eight drug experts from Thailand," he said. "This is all done under the direct control and supervision of the central government."

Shukan ST: May 30, 2003

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