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Blanchard

N. Korea hikes military budget while its people starve

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, January 2, 2002

North Korea has announced an increase in its military budget to nearly 30 percent of its gross domestic product despite widespread reports of starvation.

A report by the South Korean defense ministry said the communist regime of Kim Jong Il continues to specialize in weapons of mass destruction designed for export. An article in the new issue of Geostrategy-Direct, 'Keys to the good life in North Korea,' reports that jobs for the military industries afford North Koreans the best insurance against starvation.

North Korea has announced a defense budget of $1.42 billion, an increase in 4.4 percent over last year. Defense analysts said this comprises nearly 30 percent of the gross domestic product.

The Defense Ministry said North Korea has 2,500-5,000 tons of biological and chemical weapons agents. The report said the stockpile as well as intermediate-and long-range missiles are the greatest threat to Seoul, Middle East Newsline reported.

North Korea is regarded as the leading supplier of missile technology to the Middle East. Pyongyang has sold the No-Dong to several countries such as Egypt, Iran and Libya and wants to sell the Taepo Dong to Iran.

The South Korean report said Pyongyang has maintained its military. The North Korean military is said to comprise 1 million people in the army, 110,000 in the air force and 60,000 in the navy.

Much of the air force, the report said, has been grounded because of lack of spare parts. North Korea is estimated to have 1,720 aircraft. The army is said to deploy 3,700 tanks, 2,200 armored vehicles and 12,700 artillery pieces. The navy is composed of 430 combat surface vessles and 90 small-scale submarines.

North Korea is not expected to end a ban on launching its intermediate- and long-range missiles.

Despite tensions with its neighbors, Pyongyang will likely maintain its ban on the test of new missiles, the South Korean government report said. The report said South Korea will honor the ban during 2002.

Pyongyang agreed to the ban in exchange for U.S. help in constructing light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea. Analysts said the reactors are not expected to be completed before 2009, a delay of six years.

Pyongyang has threatened several times over the past year to renounce the ban. But the South Korean Defense Ministry report dismissed such a prospect although it said Pyongyang remains a threat.

"Inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation have increased since the June 15 inter-Korean summit talks last year, and yet the North has maintained a passive posture in the military sector," the Defense Ministry, in a report entitled "Major Defense Issues: 2001," said.

In 1998, North Korea test-fired its Taepo Dong-1 missile. A year later, Pyongyang said it would end missile testing until 2003.

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