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Egypt sending N. Korea U.S. missile technology

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LONDON -- Egypt and North Korea are cooperating on missile development -- with Cairo relaying U.S. technology to Pyongyang and the communist regime sending the Arab country components for medium-range missiles meant for Israeli targets.

Israeli and U.S. sources said they are concerned over the cooperation and Washington has quietly raised the issue with Cairo. Last year, the Clinton administration quietly sanctioned three Egyptian companies after determining that they sent Pyongyang dual use U.S. missile technology.

Jane's Defence Weekly reported on Monday that U.S. and Israeli intelligence sources believe that Western and U.S. technology obtained by Egyptian government-owned companies is sent to Pyongyang, adapted and returned as advanced missile components for Egypt's medium range ballistic missile program. Israel is concerned that Cairo is developing with North Korean help medium-range ballistic missiles with chemical and biological warheads that could strike Israel from deep within Egypt.

Israeli sources said Egypt has Scud C missiles with a range of 500 kilometers. The missiles Cairo is developing, the sources said, are believed to be nearly double that range.

But the London-based magazine said Israeli and U.S. officials differ over the extent of Egypt's missile program and its threat to the region. The differences stem from Washington's appraisal of Egypt as its leading Arab ally in the Middle East.

"They don't see Egypt the same way we do," a senior Israeli defense source told Jane's. "It seems that the U.S. does not want to do anything that will jeopardize its alliance with Egypt. This is the priority."

Three Egyptian companies were sanctioned on March 23, 1999 by the U.S. State Department for transferring dual use U.S. technology and components to Pyongyang. The Clinton administration denied Arab British Dynamics, Helwan Machinery and Equipment Co and Kader Factory for Developed Industries the right for export licenses of items listed in the 1987 Missile Technology Control Regime as well as U.S. government contracts for MTCR items.

Egypt refuses to sign the agreement, which bans the export or development of missiles with a range of more than 300 kilometer and a 500 kilogram warhead.

"The companies were found to have sent dual use items banned by the MTCR to North Korea," a State Department official told the magazine.

A senior congressional analyst said the Clinton administration has been urged by several members of Congress to impose sanctions on Egypt which receives more than $1.3 billion a year in U.S. military aid. He told the magazine that co-operation between Egypt and North Korea, which began in the late 1970s, has increased over the last two years.

"We are watching Egyptian companies make all sorts of requests for technology and components and subsystems for its missile program and transferring them to North Korea," the analyst told Jane's. "We are pressing for more to be done but nobody is willing to come out and say this publicly at this time."

A November 1999 report by the U.S. Congress's North Korea Advisory Group said that in 1981, "Egypt provided North Korea with a small number of Soviet Scud B missiles, which Pyongyang reverse-engineered to gain knowledge needed for a self-sufficient missile program."

U.S. officials said Pyongyang plans to export the Taepo Dong 1, with a range of between 1,500 and 4,000 kilometers, to Iran and eventually other Middle East countries while developing the Taepo Dong 2 missile, with a range of up to 5,500 kilometers.

Egypt is also suspected of having sent to North Korea technology acquired during the Condor missile program terminated by Cairo under U.S. pressure in the late 1980s. The Condor project was led by Argentina and included Iraq and had an estimated range of between 800-1,000 kilometers.

Israel has asked the United States for the Tomahawk cruise missile as part of any U.S. military compensation for withdrawal from the Golan Heights. Israeli sources said the United States has refused to approve the request, citing restrictions by the MTCR.

Tuesday, February 22, 2000

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