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The real threat North Korea poses ¡°is more one of proliferation than a danger to South Korea," U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday. "I don't see them, frankly, as an immediate military threat to South Korea." Rumsfeld was speaking to reporters before a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.
Rumsfeld said North Korea¡¯s missile tests early last month were intended to show off Pyongyang¡¯s capabilities to potential buyers. He added the North is engaged in all varieties of illicit activity including selling counterfeit U.S. dollars, the drug trade and sale of weapons technology. Rumsfeld reiterated North Korea is ready to sell to anyone, including terrorist organizations, and voiced concern that the technology could end up in the wrong hands.
The defense chief said U.S. intelligence on the regime¡¯s intentions was not that good but there had been military-wide decreases in capability. Thus North Korean pilots only get about 50 hours of flight training per year due to lack of resources, he said, about one-quarter the amount of time that U.S. pilots spend in the air. Asked if North Korea's missile capability is more of a threat to the U.S. than Korea, Rumsfeld said he too did not know the answer.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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