LONDON — Iranian military representatives attended
North Korea's Taepodong-2 missile launch, according to Japanese news reports.
At least 10 members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attended
the Taepodong-2 intermediate missile launch. Japan's Sankei Shimbun and South Korea's official Yonhap
news agency reported the IRGC personnel were senior engineers who sought to
learn from Pyongyang's missile program.
Yonhap reported on July 1 that the IRGC engineers participated in the
preparation for the Taepodong launch, Middle East Newsline reported. The news agency said the IRGC has
been examining Chinese-origin missile technology for Iranian procurement.
South Korean sources said Iran and North Korea could be planning a
project for the joint development of new liquid missile propellant. Yonhap
quoted the sources as saying that the propellant could be used for both
Iranian and North Korean missiles.
Teheran and Pyongyang were said to be major partners in missile and
nuclear weapons development. Western intelligence sources said Iran has been
financing North Korea's intermediate-range ballistic missile program.
In December 2005, a North Korean ship docked in Bandar Abbas and was
said to have unloaded about a dozen intermediate-range missiles. The
missiles were identified as a variant of the Russian-origin SS-N-4, which
could be fitted with a nuclear warhead.