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North Korea has established a new missile management office under the People's Armed Forces Ministry and increased its field artillery by about 1,000 pieces over the last four years. With systems growing obsolete, the North has reduced the number of fighter jets and submarines, but its reserve strength has increased by 220,000 men from 7.48 million four years ago to 7.70 million.
The developments were revealed in the Defense Ministry's 2004 white paper published Friday.
The white paper also estimates that Pyongyang has built one or two nuclear weapons after extracting about 10-14kg of plutonium before IAEA inspections began in 1992. Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung said much the same in parliamentary testimony last November, but this is the first time it has been mentioned in a Defense Ministry white paper.
The white paper also reveals how U.S. reinforcements would be deployed in the event of an emergency on the Korean Peninsula. It says more than 70 percent of the U.S. Marine Corps, 50 percent of its Air Force and 40 percent of its Navy would be sent to Korea in a crisis. In a war, U.S. strength would total about 690,000 men, 160 warships and 2,000 aircraft.
The controversial term "main enemy" for North Korea has been left out as expected. Instead it uses the phrase, "North Korea's conventional military power, weapons of mass destruction and forward deployments pose a direct military threat."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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