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N Korea building new missile bases, media report says

North Korea is building two underground bases for new ballistic missiles with a range of up to 4,000km, a newspaper reported yesterday, citing a South Korean intelligence official.

It has completed 80 percent of the work on the bases, indicating deployment of the new intermediate-range missiles was imminent, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said in Seoul.

"US intelligence satellites have spotted about 10 new ballistic missiles and mobile launching pads kept at the two places," the daily quoted the unidentified official as saying.

One of the new bases was in Yangdok, 80km east of the capital Pyongyang, and the other was in Hochon in South Hamgyong province, the official said.

There were no details about the new intermediate missiles but previous US intelligence reports have said they were an improvement on the Scud and Rodong-type weapons that are the mainstays of North Korea's arsenal.

A missile is normally classified as intermediate if it has a range of between 500km and 5,500km. If the new missile's range is confirmed, its deployment would represent a major boost for North Korea.

The country has already deployed short-range Scuds and Rodongs with a range of 1,300km, while actively developing longer-range Taepodong missiles with a range of up to 6,000km, according to South Korean analysts.

South Korea's defense ministry estimates North Korea has about 600 Scuds and and 100 Rodong missiles.

Pyongyang stunned the world in August 1998 by test-launching over Japan a Taepodong-1 missile with a range of up to 2,000km, claiming it was a satellite launch.

Washington is worried by North Korea's proliferation of missile technology and its development of longer-range missiles capable of hitting US territory.

Experts said North Korean missiles with a range of up to 4,000km could hit the US Pacific Ocean territories of Guam and Hawaii.

"Most of America's allied forces and navy ships can be targeted by the North's new missiles," said Kim Myung-jin of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul.

"The North's missile development will push the United States to build a missile defense network in the region," he said.

Missile exports have been a major source of hard currency earnings for cash-strapped North Korea, which is accused by the US of being a leading global proliferator of weapons of mass destruction.

Meanwhile, a high-level South Korean delegation flew to North Korea yesterday to urge its neighbor to work toward resolving the international standoff over its suspected nuclear weapons development.

South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun led the delegation to the North's capital, Pyongyang. The Cabinet-level talks run today through Friday.

Six nations involved in the nuclear dispute are expected to hold a third round of talks before the end of next month. The first two rounds, attended by delegates from the US, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas, took place in Beijing.

``I will advise [North Korea] that results must come out of the third round of six-nation talks,'' Jeong Se-hyun said.
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