North Korea Laying 80 New Tunnels

The Ministry of National Defense said in its “Report on the business of national defense” presented to the Committee of State Securitiy on July 7 that North Korea has been laying 80 new tunnels and reinforcing the camouflage of its army bases after the Iraq war in March 2003. It analyzed that the increase in tunnels is a prepatory response to the precision bombing strikes launched about 800 times a day by stealth fighters of U.S. army during the Iraq war.

An informed source of army said, “Due to the current disposition of stealth aircraft (about 10) in South Korea, it is likely that the North Korean trend of building positions will be intensified all the more,” and added, “But in case of an emergency in the Korean peninsula, the U.S. army can destroy the North’s nuclear establishments and the field-gun and missile bases of North Korea in a day.”

The Ministry of National Defense also stated that North Korea is focusing investment on conventional weapons and strategic weapons, despite its serious financial difficulties in the recent years

The North is improving the precision and the targeting of about 400 artillery tubes of 240mm in the neighborhood of the truce line, targeting the metropolitan area of South and also making progress in quality reform on about 40 armored vehicles named “Chunmaho” (an imitation of Russia’s T-62 armored vehicle) deployed in their front-line units.

In addition, through missile engine tests, North is planning on producing medium-range ballistic missiles and making submarines similar to the one that infiltrated off the coast of Gangreung, Gangwon in 1996.

The Ministry of National Defense predicted that, “Since North Korea appointed next year to be “the First Year of Withdrawal of the U.S Forces in Korea,” it will try to develop conflicts between South Korea and U.S. and to weaken the security awareness of the people through intensification of pro-North Korean influences within the South.

Meanwhile, National Defense Minister Cho Young-gil reported to the Committee of State Security that, “Based on the productive results at the South-North generals-level meeting, such as the preventive measure of accidental armed conflict on the West coast, we’ll customize the working-level talks and endeavor to promote the second South-North national defense summit-level meeting suspended after September 2000.”

Ho-Won Choi bestiger@donga.com