North Korea Tops List of Ballistic Missile Exporters

By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — North Korea is the world’s foremost supplier of ballistic missiles and related components and technologies, followed by the United States and China, according to an analysis in a new book.

“Today, only two countries (and possibly a third, although the status of China is unclear) are both willing and able to supply complete ballistic missiles — North Korea and the United States,” wrote Siemon Wezeman, in the recently released 2004 Yearbook from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

“All three countries supply components and technology for ballistic missiles,” he wrote.

While North Korea’s motive for proliferation appears to be principally financial, other countries have transferred missile technology for other reasons including supporting an ally, such as China’s suspected transfers to Pakistan and U.S. deliveries to the United Kingdom, according to Wezeman.

Wezeman’s essay cites mainly news reports and private sector industry analyses for its data, as well as publicly available government sources.

North Korea “is undoubtedly the main exporter of ballistic missiles,” according to Wezeman, citing reports suggesting trade with Iran, Libya, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen (see GSN, Dec. 16, 2002).

North Korea has supplied missile factories, components and complete missiles, he wrote, adding that Iran reportedly assembles North Korean Scuds from kits.

“What is problematic, from an arms control point of view, is that North Korea, the main source of ballistic missiles and related technology, has been shown to be unscrupulous in its arms exports and unconcerned about the fact that most ballistic missile programs are closely linked to WMD programs,” he wrote.

Due to the challenge in making them accurate, ballistic missiles are most useful for delivering weapons of mass destruction that can cause damage over a wide area, according to Weseman.

The “main worry and urgency in the debate about missile proliferation concerns,” he wrote, is the potential use of missiles to deliver weapons to deliver weapons of mass destruction.

He noted, though, that “the trade in ballistic missiles remains legal.”

The United States is the only country “known to have transferred long-range ballistic missiles for use with nuclear warheads,” wrote Wezeman, a SIPRI researcher from the Netherlands.

He cited the 1990s delivery of 58 Trident submarine-launched ballistic missiles to the United Kingdom, part of a long-standing arrangement between the two countries for such exchanges.

The United States, Wezeman wrote, “has been involved in several transfers of ballistic missiles and related technology, most of which are either historical [occurring some years ago] or mainly related to civilian space programs.”

India’s Agni 2 missile program, for example, has used equipment from a civilian space missile that is based on U.S. technology acquired more than 20 years ago, he wrote.

Wezeman cited a report that South Korea in 2001 signed a deal with the United States to buy 111 300-kilometer range ballistic missiles called ATACMS, with the first reportedly to be delivered this year.

He also noted reports this year of Taiwanese efforts to develop a 300-kilometer-range missile capable of reaching cities on the Chinese mainland. 

“Anonymous Taiwanese sources maintain that key components for a medium-range missile have been obtained from the USA and that Taiwanese or former Taiwanese scientists in the USA have offered their assistance,” he wrote, adding that Taiwan denies having such a program.

The United States has accused China of exporting complete ballistic missiles to Pakistan since the early 1990s, Wezeman wrote.

The communist nation also is suspected of exporting such technology to Iran, including supporting Iranian development of missiles with ranges of 2,000 and 5,000 kilometers — “the existence of both of which is denied by Iran,” according to Wezeman.

“According to the USA, China remains a key source of ballistic missile technology for Iran, including solid-fuel rocket engines,” he wrote.

In addition, China is suspected of continuing to provide ballistic missile technical support for Saudi Arabia, which bought some 36 Chinese DF-3 ballistic missiles in 1988, according to Wezeman.

The United States has alleged that China and North Korea helped Syria begin missile production and trained Syrian engineers, he wrote.

Meanwhile, there are indications, if not fully confirmed reports, that China is supporting a North Korean missile program, Saudi Arabia traded its Chinese missiles or technology to Pakistan, China in recent years obtained technology for intercontinental ballistic missiles from Russia and Ukraine, and Iran received support from Russia, according to Wezeman.

On the other hand, Western European countries, historic sources of ballistic missile technology to such countries as Argentina, Brazil and Libya, appear to have effectively cracked down on proliferators within their borders, he wrote.

“Most of these programs have now been dismantled and European states have extended controls to prevent future involvement,” he wrote.

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