Iraq Paid North Korea $10 Million in Failed Missile Deal, Kay Says

Prewar Iraq paid North Korea $10 million for ballistic missile technologies, but the deal was never carried out, chief U.S. weapons inspector David Kay said Friday (see GSN, Oct. 3).

According to Kay, who heads the Iraq Survey Group searching for evidence of alleged Iraqi WMD programs, Iraq began negotiations with North Korea for missile assistance in 1999, with such cooperation continuing through last year.  Under the terms of their agreement, North Korea was to provide Iraq with missile technology for the 1,300-kilometer Nodong ballistic missile and other nonmissile-related prohibited technologies, Kay said.

While Iraq forwarded North Korea $10 million to hold up its side of the deal, U.S. pressure on North Korea prevented Pyongyang from delivering the technologies, according to Kay.

“In late 2002, the North Koreans came to the Iraqis as a result of the Iraqis inquiring ‘Where is the stuff we paid for?’ and the North Koreans said, ‘Sorry, there’s so much U.S. attention on us that we cannot deliver it,’” Kay said.

At that point, Iraq demanded its money back, Kay said.  “And when Operation Iraqi Freedom commenced, the North Koreans were still refusing to give the $10 million back,” he said.

The failed deal was “a lesson in negotiating with the North Koreans that the Iraqis found out the hard way,” Kay said.  “Money in advance may not come your way if there is nondelivery on a contract,” he said (Gertz/Dinan, Washington Times, Oct. 4).

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Missile Code of Conduct Nations Miss Reporting Deadline

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

UNITED NATIONS — Nearly one year after creating an international missile nonproliferation effort, the vast majority of participating nations have failed to meet their own deadline for providing information on their nonproliferation policies.

The Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation was launched last November in The Hague and it calls on members to exercise “maximum possible restraint” in developing and deploying ballistic missiles and to not aid the ballistic missile programs of any countries that might be developing weapons of mass destruction.  To increase transparency, the code calls on members to implement several confidence-building measures, such as making an annual declaration outlining their ballistic missile policies.

Of the 109 nations that have subscribed to the code, however, only about 20 provided the declaration by the Sept. 30 deadline, forcing the code’s administrators to extend the deadline to Jan. 31.

The information emerged from the code’s first annual meeting, a two-day session that ended today here in New York.  Chilean Foreign Ministry official Luis Winter chaired the meeting after taking over from Dutch officials who had led the code of conduct through its first year.

One reason that code members have delayed in submitting their annual declarations is that they are “watching what to do,” Winter said, adding that it was important for a dialogue to be established among countries to help others prepare their annual declarations.  During yesterday’s session, several submitted declarations were distributed to code members to serve as models, he said. 

In addition, the delegates also discussed their experiences to date in preparing and submitting the prelaunch notifications also required by the code, a U.S. State Department official said, adding that this issue has been more difficult for code subscribers.  To date, five code members have submitted prelaunch notifications, Winter said. 

The United States and Russia have placed a priority on completing bilateral prelaunch notifications, which, when finished, will make it easier to submit such notifications in the code’s framework, the State Department official said.

A Dutch Foreign Ministry official agreed that more needed to be done to improve transparency under the code, especially in the field of prelaunch notifications.  Some members have not had the necessary time to “get their act together” to submit such declarations, the official said.

Overall Praise

Despite the compliance rate, officials here praised the code’s first year.

The United States is “extremely pleased” with the code, a U.S. State Department official told Global Security Newswire yesterday.  The delegates held a “good discussion” on efforts to increase code membership, and Chile outlined several measures to further promote the agreement, the official said.  He added that Chile’s membership in a number of international organizations and the nonproliferation success of Latin America as a region will further aid such efforts.

According to the official, about half a dozen “smaller states” are close to joining the code.  Since a June intercessional meeting in Vienna, Eritrea, Liechtenstein and Tonga have become members (see GSN, July 2).

A number of states of missile proliferation concern such as China, India and Pakistan, however, still refuse to join the agreement, the Dutch official said yesterday.  “The world has not changed [enough] over the last year” for countries of concern to have changed their position on the code, the Dutch official said, adding that persuading such countries to join remains “a major task for us.”

Chile yesterday formally replaced the Netherlands as chair of the code.  Officials praised the selection of Chile, noting that it is neither a European country or a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime, which seeks to restrict the export of critical missile technologies by establishing common export controls among the regime’s 33 members (see GSN, Sept. 30).  The Dutch official noted that some countries have “ambiguous” feelings toward the MTCR, with some complaining the regime is a discriminatory measure.

It is good “for the public face of the code to not be an MTCR face,” the State Department official said.

During today’s session, delegates are expected to discuss measures to strengthen links between the code and the United Nations, Winter said.  Such measures could include a “mild [U.N.] resolution,” he said, adding that it still needed to be determined if the time for such a resolution was right.  Winter also said there has been talk among code members of making the code sometime in the future a formal treaty.  In addition, code members are also expected to discuss preparations for a second intercessional meeting, possibly to be held in Vienna in June, and plans for a second annual meeting of members, Winter said. 

According to Dutch Foreign Ministry officials, an Iraqi official attempted to enter yesterday’s meeting, but was turned away because Iraq is not a code member.  Iraq was not invited to join the code prior to the November ceremony because it was under U.N. sanctions at the time (see GSN, Nov. 22, 2002).  The Dutch official said the Iraqi official’s attempt to enter yesterday’s meeting was “the first bit of interest we’ve seen” in Iraq joining the code.

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Pakistan Test Fires Ballistic Missile

Pakistan today announced that it has tested a Hatf 3 missile, an “indigenously developed” ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead (see GSN, Sept. 22).

Using a new name for the missile, the Pakistani military said in a statement “This was the second test of the Ghaznavi missile which is capable of carrying all types of warheads accurately up to a range of 290 km.”

Islamabad has planned a series of tests to take place over the next few days, Reuters reported.  Pakistan played down underlying tension with its nuclear neighbor, India.

“The timings of the tests reflect Pakistan’s determination not to engage in a tit-for-tat syndrome to other tests in the region,” the statement said.  “Pakistan will maintain the pace of its own missile development program and conducts tests as per its technical needs,” it added (Reuters, Oct. 3).

Indian Defense Ministry spokesman Amitabh Chakravorty said that New Delhi had been told ahead of time about the missile test.

“Pakistan had given due notification to us,” he said (Munir Ahmad, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Oct. 3).

Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said today that “there is nothing special” about the missile test (Press Trust of India/Hindustan Times, Oct. 3).

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