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Star Wars Storm Troopers, a fan-based group known as the "501st Legion" from 22 different countries and 26 U.S. states, march down Colorado Boulevard in the 118th Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 1, 2007. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
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White Paper Report Considers North Korean Nuclear
Facilities Serious Threats
The Defense Ministry has recently published its biennial report, White Paper 2006. In the report, the ministry reassessed the North’s nuclear capability, switching an existing word ‘serious threat’ to ‘serious threat.’ In particular, in respect with the North’s plutonium possession, the report estimated that there is a possibility that the regime could have an additional 30 kilograms.
The ministry also related changes in the North’s military forces and current domestic military issues such as the wartime operation transfer agreed to in the 38th Security Council Meeting with the US, military defense reformation 2020, and move of the US troops to the Pyongtek base.
The report concluded that since the North conducted its nuclear weapon tests on Oct. 9, 2006 and the international community placed sanctions on the North, this is causing security-threatening factors on the Korean peninsula. Concerning the North’s military threat, conventional military forces, weapons of mass destruction, and nuclear missiles are still threatening the Korean peninsula and national security.
Major General Jung Seung-jo of the Defense Ministry policy planning bureau said in a briefing, “The government considers the North’s military strength more serious than before due to its nuclear tests.”
The report also forecast that the North could have up to 40 to 50 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium. Pyongyang extracted a total of 10 to 14 kilograms of plutonium before 1994, enough to manufacture one to two nuclear weapons. Currently, the government has a burden to consider whether or not the North is a nuclear-possessing nation.
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 / 입력시간: 2007. 01.02. 09:47
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