15 Spetember, 1998
Pakistan preparing for mass production of Ghauri: US paper
By Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Sept 14: Pakistan has acquired several shipments of weapons material for mass production of the Ghauri missile after its May nuclear tests, a report citing findings of satellite spying by US agencies over Pakistan said on Monday.
"Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in Kahuta, received the shipments in mid-June, according to US officials familiar with secret intelligence reports circulated to senior Clinton administration officials last month," the Washington Times reported in a story by Bill Gertz, the reporter who frequently uses secret CIA reports for his stories on nuclear and missile issues.
"North Korea delivered several shipments of weapons material to Pakistan this summer, including warhead canisters for the Ghauri missile. Pakistan's premier nuclear weapons development centre, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in Kahuta, received the shipments in mid-June," the paper said quoting US officials familiar with secret intelligence reports circulated to senior Clinton administration officials last month.
It said the reports highlighted the close cooperation between North Korea and Pakistan on missiles and raise new worries among US officials that Pakistan is developing nuclear warheads for the Ghauri missile.
Other reports indicate Pakistan is moving ahead rapidly with plans to develop weapons-grade fuel for nuclear weapons from several facilities, it said.
According to one intelligence report, satellite spy photographs revealed increased activity at the KRL's missile production and assembly plant. The report concluded that the activity was a sign that "Pakistan is currently producing more Ghauri missiles," one official said.
A storage facility for the missiles was photographed by US spy satellites less than a mile from the Kahuta assembly plant, according to the officials.
A CIA spokesman declined to comment on the shipments, details of which were compiled from several types of US intelligence collection systems.
According to the officials, aircraft containing the warhead canisters and missile production components were spotted in Pakistan. The shipments appear linked to further production of the Ghauri, they said.
A July 29 report by the congressional commission on missile threats headed by former Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Ghauri is a version of the North Korean Nodong missile, with a range of 800 miles. "We believe Pakistan has acquired production facilities for this missile as well," the report's authors concluded.
Pakistan also has nuclear weapons fuelled with highly enriched uranium, and it recently completed a nuclear reactor "that could be used for the production of plutonium," the report said.
"North Korean-Pakistani missile cooperation dates to the early 1990s, and it is continuing, it is significant and it does pose a threat to stability in South Asia," a specialist on the North Korean missile programme, Joseph Bermudez, who has written extensively on the issue for the military trade publications, told the Times .
The commission report also said Pakistan's missile infrastructure is "more advanced than that of North Korea" and "developed quite rapidly" with technical help from China and North Korea.
"Pakistan currently possesses nuclear-capable M-11 [short-range ballistic missiles] acquired from China, and it may produce its own missile, the Tarmuk, based on the M-11."
US officials said a test firing of the new Tarmuk missile is expected in the next several weeks. State Department has already announced sanctions on KRL and a North Korean missile manufacturer for violating US export laws related to the Missile Technology Control Regime.
State Department identified Changgwang Sinyong Corp., also known as the North Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation/ Bureau, as the missile component supplier that provided the goods to Pakistan. US officials believe the entity's name is designed to obscure the company's covert missile sales.
According to a US intelligence report obtained by The Times , the Changgwang Sinyong Corp. obtained special "maraging steel" from Russia last year for Pakistan's missile programme.
The "top secret" intelligence report identified Kang Tae-yun, the North Korean economic counsellor in Pakistan, as well as the local representative of Changgwang Sinyong, as a key figure in the deal with an unidentified Russian company.
Maraging steel is an ultrastrong corrosion-resistant alloy that can be easily machined and welded. It is a key component of high-technology missile fuselages and nose cones.
Pakistan's Tabani Corp., which has close ties to KRL, sent a delegation to Moscow in February to discuss purchases of mass spectrometers, lasers and carbon fiber-all high-technology goods with weapons applications, according to another intelligence report.
Mr Bermudez said a senior general in the North Korean defense commission, Choe Kwang, visited Pakistan in November 1995, when arrangements for missile cooperation between the two countries are believed to have been made.
US missile sanctions were imposed on KRL in 1993 for its role in acquiring Chinese M-11 missile components. The United States also slapped sanctions on Changgwang Sinyong in June 1996 for selling missile components to Iran.
Former CIA Non-proliferation Center chief Gordon Oehler told a Senate hearing on June 11 that Pakistan since 1992 has shifted from buying missile systems to producing its own. Oehler testified that the Clinton administration covered up evidence indicating China had sold M-11 short-range missiles to Pakistan to avoid having to impose sanctions under US export laws.