Reuters: Iran working with N.Korea on missiles: Institute

[DeepModem Mom]

Iran working with N.Korea on missiles: Institute
Thu Aug 3, 2006

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has been working closely with Iran to develop its long-range ballistic missiles, possibly using Chinese technology, and is building large bases to prepare for their deployment, a South Korean state-run think tank said.

Communist North Korea is also building new sites near the Demilitarized Zone border for short-range missiles and is deploying missiles with improved precision that can strike most of Japan, the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) said in a report.

"The development of Taepodong-2 is conducted jointly with Iran, and it is possible China's technology is used in the development of the Taepodong-2 engine," said the IFANS report, which Reuters obtained on Thursday.

The collaboration is part of an international network, including Pakistan, that made it possible for the impoverished North to develop and deploy missiles despite scarce resources and limited testing, the study said....

***

The Taepodong-2 is the product of joint efforts with Tehran, coinciding with Iran's development of the Shehab-5 and 6, and "it is highly possible that design and technology from China, which has an arms trade with Iran, were used", the report said....

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-08-03T043310Z_01_SEO273665_RTRUKOC_0_US-KOREA-NORTH-MISSILES.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C2-TopNews-newsOne-10

[Purveyor]

1. Well now, if NK would only share, in trade, a nuke or two... eom

[Miss Chybil]

2. Remember the days of Nuclear Non-Proliferation?

Such a distant memory. Now nations feel the only way they are safe from us is to build nukes. And, we all know what happens when people get nukes... they want to use them. Just like I'm sure Dick and George lay awake at night wondering when they'll get to push the button. Goodbye world.

[halobeam]

3. I was just reminiscing of those days long gone too.

What I don't understand is why these countries don't feel they can "wait out" the LOUSIEST most inept presidents' term. Not saying they shouldn't be ready to protect themselves, cuz he IS one sick bastard, but these seem like such long term goals and everyone seems to be buying into the "must have nukes" mind frame. Why isn't anyone of substance getting up and saying NO MORE NUKES... WHY? I guess it's just a rhetorical question, since I doubt anyone knows first hand the answer either.. This just sucks. Even if none of these nuts "push a button", the more they have, the more abuse they do because of their "power", and the increase in odds of accidents (Chernobyl)... and of course, as you put it, goodbye world, as worst case scenerio.

Sad times. I feel sadder for the children of this world. Sometimes I wish I didn't have my kids.. I feel guilty bringing them into this nightmare, although I didn't know what I know today. I'm still responsible for what I do and don't know, but somewhere along the line, I have to stop beating myself up.

Sad, just so sad, when this world could be EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL.

[Miss Chybil]

4. I used to wonder why they didn't just wait also, but the plans go

far beyond the current regime.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0731-06.htm

Published on Monday, July 31, 2006 by the Guardian / UK
US Begins Building Treaty-Breaching Germ War Defence Centre
by Julian Borger

Construction work has begun near Washington on a vast germ warfare laboratory intended to help protect the US against an attack with biological weapon, but critics say the laboratory's work will violate international law and its extreme secrecy will exacerbate a biological arms race.
The National Biodefence Analysis and Countermeasures Centre (NBACC), due to be completed in 2008, will house heavily guarded and hermetically sealed chambers in which scientists simulate potential terrorist attacks.

To do so, the centre will have to produce and stockpile the world's most lethal bacteria and viruses, which is forbidden by the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. Three years before that treaty was agreed, President Richard Nixon halted the production of US biological weapons at Fort Detrick in Maryland. The same military base is the site for the new $128m (£70m), 160,000 sq ft laboratory.

The green light for its construction was given after the September 11 attacks, which coincided with a series of still-unsolved anthrax incidents that killed five people. The department of homeland security, which will run the centre, says its work is necessary to protect the country. "All the programmes we do are defensive in nature," Maureen McCarthy, director of homeland security research and development, told the Washington Post. "Our job is to ensure that the civilian population of the country is protected, and that we know what the threats are."

The biological weapons convention stipulates that the signatories must not "develop, produce, stockpile, or otherwise acquire or retain" biological weapons, and does not distinguish between offensive and defensive intentions.

more...
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0731-06.htm

[halobeam]

5. Sci-fi... I was always a fan, until it came to a town near me.