N. Korea sets up special missile division: source

SEOUL, March 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has recently established an independent military division in charge of deploying and operating intermediate-range ballistic missiles, a government source in Seoul said Tuesday, a move indicating the North's determination to continue developing missiles with a range of over 3,000 kilometers.

North Korea in 2007 rolled out its first -- and so far only, according to
intelligence -- intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which is supposedly
capable of reaching Russia, India and Guam.
"We believe North Korea has set up a division under its Korean People's Army
General Staff charged solely with arranging and controlling new
intermediate-range missiles," the South Korean government source said, requesting
not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
"We believe the operation of this separate unit indicates North Korea's intention
to produce new IRBMs," the source said, adding the weapon poses a threat to the
security of the Korean Peninsula as well as the U.S. 7th Fleet, based in
Yokosuka, Japan.
The North is believed to have begun development of its IRBM -- based on a
Russian-built SS-N-6, a submarine-launched ballistic missile -- in the late
1990s, and to have deployed it in a "road-mobile mode" in 2007.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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