Lee Kuan Yew calls North Koreans 'psychopathic'--WikiLeaks
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Singapore's Lee calls N.Koreans 'psychopathic' --WikiLeaks
SINGAPORE - Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew called North Koreans "psychopathic" and leader Kim Jong-Il a "flabby old chap" who craved public worship, a US diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks said.
In the document detailing a conversation between Lee and US deputy secretary of state James B. Steinberg in May last year, Singapore's elder statesman said he would be surprised if the North Koreans agreed to give up their nuclear weapons.
"They are psychopathic types, with a 'flabby old chap' for a leader who prances around stadiums seeking adulation," said the document, classified as secret.
Singapore's first prime minister who now holds the title of minister mentor in the cabinet compared the plight of North Koreans to his experiences living through the Japanese occupation of his country during World War II.
"MM Lee noted that he had learned from living through three and a half years of Japanese occupation inSingapore that people will obey authorities who can deny them food, clothing and medicine," the leaked document read.
Nuclear-armed North Korea might also give up its "first-strike capacity" but would keep its atomic weapons "in case the USG (US government) decides to seek a regime change," the cable read.
Lee also said he believed that Japan may "go nuclear" in response to North Korea's actions.
Lee told Steinberg that China would prefer a nuclear-armedNorth Korea than a North Korea that has collapsed because it sees the country as a buffer state.
"If China has to choose, Beijing sees a North Korea with nuclear weapons as less bad for China than a NorthKorea that has collapsed," Lee said, according to the account.
If North Korea failed, South Korea "would take over in the North and China would face a US presence at its border," the cable said of Lee's views.
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i agree.. the NKoreans are psychopaths
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oh no, will N Korea sent its missiles the way of Singapore if KiM heard about this?
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US embassy cables: Former Singapore PM on 'psychopathic' North Koreans
Thursday, 04 June 2009, 09:08
S E C R E T SINGAPORE 000529
EO 12958 DECL: 06/04/2029
TAGS OVIP">OVIP (STEINBERG, JAMES B.), PREL, MNUC,ECON, SN, CH,
KN
SUBJECT: DEPUTY SECRETARY STEINBERG'S MAY 30, 2009
CONVERSATION WITH SINGAPORE MINISTER MENTOR LEE KUAN YEW
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Daniel L. Shields. Reason 1.4 (b) and (d).1. (SBU) May 30, 2009; 6:30 p.m.; The Presidential Palace; Singapore.
2. (SBU) Participants:
United States
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The Deputy Secretary Glyn T. Davies, EAP Acting Assistant Secretary Daniel L. Shields, CDA (Notetaker)
SINGAPORE
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Minister Mentor (MM) Lee Kuan Yew Chee Hong Tat, Principal Private Secretary to MM Cheryl Lee, Country Officer, Americas Directorate, MFA
3. (S) SUMMARY: Deputy Secretary Steinberg used his meeting with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew to stress the importance of Chinese cooperation in addressing theNorth Korea nuclear issue and to elicit MM Lee's views on China and North Korea. MM Lee said the Chinese do not want North Korea to have nuclear weapons and do not want North Korea to collapse. If China has to choose, Beijing sees a North Korea with nuclear weapons as less bad than a North Korea that has collapsed. MM Lee asked Deputy Chief of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Staff Ma Xiaotian what China can do about North Korea. General Ma's answer was that "they can survive on their own." The Deputy Secretary noted that the DPRK could have a fair and attractive deal if it would change its approach. If not, North Korea faces a change of course by the United States, the ROK and Japan. MM Lee said he believes Japan may well "go nuclear." MM Lee also offered views on the Chinese economy, Taiwan, Chinese leaders, and U.S.-China relations. End Summary.
China and North Korea
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4. (S) Deputy Secretary Steinberg met with Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on May 30 on the margins of the Shangri-La Dialogue, the annual international security forum held in Singapore. The Deputy Secretary used the meeting with MM Lee to stress the importance of Chinese cooperation in addressing the North Korea nuclear issue and to elicit MM Lee's views on China and North Korea. MM Lee said the Chinese do not want North Korea to have nuclear weapons. At the same time, the Chinese do not want North Korea, which China sees as a buffer state, to collapse. The ROK would take over in the North and China would face a U.S. presence at its border. If China has to choose, Beijing sees a North Korea with nuclear weapons as less bad for China than a North Korea that has collapsed, he stated.
5. (S) MM Lee said he asked Deputy Chief of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Staff Ma Xiaotian what China can do about North Korea. General Ma's Delphic answer was that "they can survive on their own." MM Lee said he interpreted this as meaning that even if China cut off aid, the DPRK leadership would survive. This is a leadership that has already taken actions like killing ROK Cabinet Members in Burma and shooting down a KAL flight. If they lose power, they will end up facing justice at The Hague, like Milosevic. They have been so isolated for so long that they have no friends, not even Russia. They have not trusted China since the Chinese began cultivating ties with the ROK, given China's interest in attracting foreign investment, he said. The Deputy Secretary noted that the DPRK could have a fair and attractive deal if it would change its approach. If not, North Korea faces a change of course by the United States, the ROK and Japan. MM Lee expressed worry about the effect on Iran if the DPRK persists. MM Lee said he believes the DPRK can be contained and will not proliferate, but Iran has very high ambitions, ties to Shiite communities outside Iran, and oil wealth.
6. (S) The Deputy Secretary noted that North Korea's decisions will have an impact in Japan. MM Lee said he believes Japan may well "go nuclear." The Chinese must have factored this into their calculations and concluded that the prospect of Japan with nuclear weapons is less bad than losing North Korea as a buffer state. The Chinese take a long-term view and must think that within a few years the DPRK's current leadership will be gone and there will be new leadership, with new thinking. But there will still be a North Korea, he said.
7. (S) MM Lee said he wishes the USG well in its efforts on North Korea, but he would be surprised if the North Koreans agree to give up nuclear weapons. They might give up a first-strike capacity, but they want nuclear weapons in case the USG decides to seek regime change. They are psychopathic types, with a "flabby old chap" for a leader who prances around stadiums seeking adulation. MM Lee noted that he had learned from living through three and a half years of Japanese occupation in Singapore that people will obey authorities who can deny them food, clothing and medicine.
8. (S) MM Lee said the ROK, after seeing what had happened with German unification, does not want immediate unification with the DPRK. There is "nothing there" in the DPRK, other than a military organization. Kim Jong-Il has already had a stroke. It is just a matter of time before he has another stroke. The next leader may not have the gumption or the bile of his father or grandfather. He may not be prepared to see people die like flies. China is calculating all this. They have their best men on the job. They want to help the United States to advance common objectives. But they do not want the South to take over the North, MM Lee said.
Chinese Economy
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9. (C) Regarding the Chinese economy, MM Lee said the global economic crisis has hit many countries, but the feel on the ground differs considerably from place to place. The Chinese economy is reportedly in the doldrums, but when MM Lee visited Jiangsu Province on May 24, his impression was one of continued prosperity. Shanghai has been harder hit, with container port traffic down 30-35 percent, similar to the situation in Singapore. There is no sign of deep unrest in China. The Chinese are very confident they will be able to sustain eight percent growth. The government is pumping resources into the economy, with a focus on developing Western China. Whether such policies can be sustained for three to four years is unclear, but China can certainly sustain these policies for at least a year, he said.
10. (C) MM Lee stated that in the absence of a social safety net in China, the Chinese savings rate is 55 percent, exceeding even Singapore's 50 percent level. Consumption accounts for only 35 percent of Chinese GDP, as opposed to 70 percent of U.S. GDP. The Chinese leadership may be loath to shift permanently to a more consumption-oriented economy, but the leadership will do so temporarily, if only to avoid unrest. 20 million people have moved back to the countryside because of economic dislocations. The government is providing microfinance to facilitate the transition. The pragmatists are in charge. There is nothing Communist about it. They just want to preserve one party rule. The Deputy Secretary expressed concern that current Chinese policies designed to counter the economic crisis could undermine reform. MM Lee said this cannot be helped. China wants to prevent riots like the ones that happened in Guangzhou in March when Hong Kong-connected enterprises suddenly shut down, he said.
Taiwan
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11. (C) The Deputy Secretary asked MM Lee for his assessment of Taiwan. MM Lee said former President Chen Shui-bian had left Taiwan in a weak economic position, which had enabled President Ma Ying-Jeou to come to power with his pledge to strengthen the economy through means including expanding the three links with China. In Beijing, former President Jiang Zemin was wedded to his eight-point approach, but President Hu Jintao was more flexible. Jiang wanted to show he was a great man by solving the Taiwan issue in his lifetime, but Hu is more patient and does not have any fixed timeline. In Chinese domestic politics, Hu had wanted Vice Premier Li Keqiang from the Communist Youth League to emerge as his successor, not Vice President Xi Jinping, but Hu did his calculations and accepted Xi when it became clear that Xi had the necessary backing from the rest of the leadership. Similarly, on Taiwan, Hu will be pragmatic. It does not matter to Hu if it takes 10 years or 20 or 30. The key is building links with Taiwan. As in the case of Hong Kong, if necessary the tap could be turned off, he said.
12. (C) In this context, MM Lee said, Hu could live with Ma's positions on the '92 consensus and on not addressing the reunification issue during his term in office. What mattered to Hu was that Taiwan not seek independence. If that happened, China has 1,000 missiles and is building its capacity to hold the U.S. fleet at a distance. The implicit question for Taiwan's leaders is if that is what they want, MM Lee said.
13. (C) MM Lee stated that the alternative is Mainland investment in Taiwan stocks and property. The Mainland has already assured Hong Kong that it will help out economically. The Mainland has not said this to Taiwan, but the Mainland's Taiwan Affairs Director, Wang Yi, did urge Chinese companies to invest in Taiwan. In four years Taiwan's economy will pick up and Ma will win re-election. The DPP lacks strong potential candidates. Su Zhen-chang is promising, but seems unlikely to be able to win. Meanwhile, even the traditionally DPP-supporting farmers in Taiwan's South need China's market for vegetables and other products. Taiwan's continued participation in the World Health Assembly depends on Beijing. Beijing's calculation seems to be to prevent Taiwan independence in the near term, then bring Taiwan "back to China," even if it takes 40 or 50 years. MM Lee said he is looking forward to visiting Fujian Province, where preparations are underway for a new southern economic area linked with Taiwan.
Xi Jinping
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14. (C) The Deputy Secretary asked if in the future a leader like Xi Jinping would continue the policies on Taiwan followed by Hu Jintao. MM Lee responded affirmatively. Xi is a princeling who succeeded despite being rusticated. When the party needed his talents, Xi was brought in as Shanghai Party Secretary. Xi is seen as a Jiang Zemin protege, but in another three and a half years Jiang's influence will be gone. The focus now is on maintaining the system. There are no more strongmen like Deng Xiaoping. Jiang did not like Hu, but could not stop him, because Hu had the backing of the system and he did not make mistakes.
Wang Qishan
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15. (C) MM Lee said Vice Premier Wang Qishan, whom the MM saw in connection with celebrations in May of the 15th anniversary of Singapore-China Suzhou Industrial Park, is an exceptional talent, very assured and efficient. Wang handled SARS superbly when he was in Hainan. He excelled in coordinating the Beijing Olympics. Li Keqiang may not get the Premiership and the Party is looking for a way to keep Wang on past his 65th birthday until he is 70. MM Lee said he had met first Wang back in the 1990s but had forgotten their meeting. This time when they met, Wang told Lee he had reviewed the records of all Lee's meeting with Chinese leaders going back to the days of Deng Xiaoping to see how Lee's thinking had developed. Wang told Lee he respects him as a consistent man.
China's Rise
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16. (C) MM Lee said China is following an approach consistent with ideas in the Chinese television series "The Rise of Great Powers." The mistake of Germany and Japan had been their effort to challenge the existing order. The Chinese are not stupid; they have avoided this mistake. China's economy has surpassed other countries, with the exceptions of Japan and the United States. Even with those two countries, the gap is closing, with China growing at seven-nine percent annually, versus two-three percent in the United States and Japan. Overall GDP, not GDP per capita, is what matters in terms of power. China has four times the population of the United States. China is active in Latin America, Africa, and in the Gulf. Within hours, everything that is discussed in ASEAN meetings is known in Beijing, given China's close ties with Laos, Cambodia, and Burma, he stated.
17. (C) MM Lee said China will not reach the American level in terms of military capabilities any time soon, but is rapidly developing asymmetrical means to deter U.S. military power. China understands that its growth depends on imports, including energy, raw materials, and food. This is why China is working with South Africa on the China-Africa Development Fund. China also needs open sea lanes. Beijing is worried about its dependence on the Strait of Malacca and is moving to ease the dependence by means like a pipeline through Burma.
Build Ties with Young Chinese
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18. (C) MM Lee said the best course for the United States on China is to build ties with China's young people. China's best and brightest want to study in the United States, with the UK as the next option, then Japan. While they are there, it is important that they be treated as equals, with the cultural support they may need as foreigners. Why not have International Military Education and Training (IMET) programs for China? Why not have Chinese cadets at West Point alongside Vietnamese cadets and Indian cadets? America's advantage is that it can make use of the talent of the entire world, as in Silicon Valley. China still tends to try to keep the foreigners in Beijing and Shanghai. MM Lee noted that his own experience as a student in the UK had left him with an enduring fondness for the UK. When he spent two months at Harvard in 1968, an American professor had invited him home for Thanksgiving. This was not the sort of thing that happened in the UK, and Lee had realized he was dealing with a different civilization. In the future, China's leaders will have PhDs and MBAs from American universities, he predicted.
19. (U) The Deputy Secretary has cleared this message.
Visit Embassy Singapore's Classified website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/singapore/ind ex.cfm
SHIELDS
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/210110
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" with a 'flabby old chap' for a leader who prances around stadiums seeking adulation," said the document, classified as secret.
Seems like he is talking about himself, that old bastard.
MM Lee noted that his own experience as a student in the UK had left him with an enduring fondness for the UK.
Still can't change his mentality of a british dog. Reared from birth as an anglo dog, die also an anglo dog.
This Harry Lee is an anglo dog to the end.
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I think he better mind his own business, offended them, they wll point missiles at spore.
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Harry Lee always likes to talk cock about others, but others cannot criticise him.
What an arsehole.
He better learn to keep his mouth shut. Old already still want to make trouble. Just cannot get out of limelight, this old bastard.
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dang...
imagine if wikileaks leaked out infos that might've lead to the 'War Against Terror' cover up?
it would definitely bloody shake the world...
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And like all concrete proof, it will be ignored. Like how US transferred funds to Taliban prior to the Afghanistan invasion, lack of parts to suggest that the suicide planes were of commercial airlines and etc.
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ok lah, at least there is something I agree with LKY this time, North Korea stinks. Not the people, they were helpless, but I'm talking about Kim Jong-Il, the biggest asshole of all time.
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Checkpoint #3 on the South Korean side is very close to the MDL and very isolated from the rest of the friendly buildings in the JSA. This isolation was made worse by a 100-foot poplar tree whose foliage grew directly in the sight line between Checkpoint #3 and the nearest observation post during the summer months. What's worse, the Korean People's Army (KPA) had made a few attempts to kidnap UN soldiers and drag them across the bridge. The tree needed to be trimmed regularly.
Photo: BeaoOn August 18, 1976, a crew of Korean Service Corps, escorted by 14 military personnel, went down to trim the tree with axes. Minutes later, they were joined by 15 KPA personnel, who observed the trimming without disturbing them for 15 minutes. Suddenly, Lt. Pak Chul, leader of the KPA in question, told the Korean Service Corps to stop trimming at once, citing that the tree had been planted by Kim Il-Sung, the Great Leader of North Korea, himself. Capt. Arthur Bonifas, who was in charge of the UN personnel, ignored him.
Photo: WbfergusSoon Lt. Pak Chul had called in a truck carrying 20 more KPA soldiers and, upon being ignored again, ordered them to kill. The Korean Service Corps members dropped their axes, which were picked up by the KPA soldiers and used to kill Capt. Bonifas and mortally wound the platoon leader, First Lt. Mark Barrett, who was rescued after hiding in a nearby ditch only to die shortly after boarding a helicopter bound for Seoul.
Photo: Wayne JohnsonThough tensions were high, the poplar tree was still a threat to the security of UN officers and action was required. On August 21, Operation Paul Bunyan was carried out. 23 vehicles drove into the JSA without warning the KPA. The UN and South Korean forces, numbering approximately 800 men, were armed to the teeth with M-16 rifles, grenade launchers and even mines strapped to their chests. They were backed up with attack helicopters, F-4 fighter jets and even B-52 bombers circling overhead. All this was to protect two teams of eight men with chainsaws.
Photo: FilzstiftThe KPA responded by deploying approximately 200 men armed with machine guns, but no shots were fired. The tree was successfully cut to a stump in a mere 42 minutes, which remained there until 1987 when a memorial plaque dedicated to Bonifas and Barrett was installed. The incident lead to stricter enforcement of the MDL, and the installation of cement posts on the Bridge of No Return – making it impassable to vehicles and the abandonment of Checkpoint #3 – but no more violence came of it.
Photo: kallebooPerhaps this incident will make you think more carefully the next time your neighbor asks you to trim that branch extending onto their property.
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North’s history of provocationsIncidents include military attacks, assassination attempts, kidnappingNovember 30, 2010
1983
The structure of the mausoleum for Burma’s independence hero Aung San was destroyed by bombs planted there by North Korean agents in Rangoon. The blast killed 17 senior South Korean government officials.
1987
Kim Hyon-hui, a North Korean agent, is taken to Gimpo Airport. Kim and another male agent bombed a Korean Air airplane, killing 95 passengers and 20 crew members.
1999
As a North Korean patrol ship crossed over the Northern Limit Line, a South Korean patrol ship rammed the ship to push it away. It was the first Yeonpyeong sea skirmish.
2010
The South Korean warship Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo attack, killing 46 sailors aboard.
1996
North Korean commandos infiltrated Sokcho, Gangwon, in a minisub. In the battle that ensued, 20 North Korean commandos were killed and one was captured alive. Nine South Korean soldiers and four civilians were killed in the gunfights.
“We have endured North Korea’s provocations time after time.”
President Lee Myung-bak addressed the nation yesterday morning in an effort to reassure citizens who were shaken by the attack on Yeonpyeong Island last Tuesday, which killed four people, including two civilians.
And, South Koreans, especially the president, remember those events.
“Through the Blue House raid in 1968 and the 1983 Rangoon bombing, the North Korean regime has already aimed for the South Korean head of state twice,” said Lee. “And 115 citizens lost their lives because of a civilian aircraft explosion in 1987.”
As Lee mentioned during his address, North Korea has orchestrated numerous acts against South Korea since the Korean War ended in a truce in 1953.
According to a report in June by the Freedom Advance Association, a liberal civic group based in Seoul, there have been roughly 470 cases of North Korean provocations against South Korea since the Korean War, with 3,700 people kidnapped, wounded or killed.
A chronology of North Korean provocations released by the U.S. Congressional Research Service in 2003 showed that North Korea infiltrated South Korea with 3,693 armed agents from 1954 to 1992.
These provocations, many of which have proved dangerous and even fatal, can largely be categorized into five groups, experts say: military attacks, aircraft hijacking, assassination attempts, guerilla attacks and kidnapping.
North Korea has frequently threatened the South Korean military with its warships and submarines. The most recent clashes between North and South Korea that resulted in South Korean casualties were the Yeonpyeong sea battles in 1999 and 2002.
North Korean patrol boats crossed back and forth over the Northern Limit Line for nine days in June 1999, until the North Korean military ultimately opened fire, wounding seven South Korean sailors.
The second skirmish had worse results than the first, with North Korean patrol boats staging a surprise attack on South Korean boats, leaving six South Korean sailors dead and 19 wounded.
The sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in March killed 46 sailors after North Korea, according to reports, torpedoed the ship, which the North denies.
North Korea has tried its luck in the air as well. On Nov. 29, 1987, a Korean Air Boeing 707 heading to Seoul from Baghdad blew up over the Andaman Sea, killing 95 passengers and 20 crew members.
A young North Korean woman named Kim Hyon-hui admitted to stowing explosives in the overhead compartment of the plane during a stopover in Abu Dhabi.
In December 1969, a Korean Air plane carrying 51 passengers and crew was hijacked by North Korean agents and flown into North Korean territory. Only 39 passengers were released and the rest are still believed to be in North Korean custody.
The communist state has not stopped at civilians, but has also aimed for South Korean presidents in the past, starting with the attempted Blue House raid in January 1968 by 31 armed North Korean agents.
Upon being stopped by guards near the Blue House, the agents opened fire, killing 18 South Koreans in the process. Twenty-eight North Korean agents were killed on site while two managed to escape. One was captured alive.
The second assassination attempt was the infamous Rangoon bombing, which was an attempt to assassinate then-South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan on a trip to Rangoon, Burma. Although the former president managed to avoid being killed by getting stuck in traffic, 17 South Korean ministers and officials died after bombs installed at a mausoleum where the president was planning to visit were detonated.
North Korea has also often enjoyed springing guerilla attacks on South Korean territory, especially during the 1960s and ’70s. In October 1968, 120 North Korean armed guerrillas infiltrated the Uljin and Samcheok areas in South Korea and killed 18 South Koreans, including civilians. Six North Korean agents also killed one South Korean police officer in 1969 in Gangwon.
In continued infiltration attempts, 14 communist guerillas were killed and one was captured in September 1996 after a North Korean submarine ran aground in Sokcho, South Korea.
Another North Korean submarine was found caught in nets near the same area two years later, where nine guerrillas were found dead.
Amid assassination and terrorism attempts, North Korea has repeatedly kidnapped South Koreans since 1955, when 10 South Korean fishermen were taken from their boat.
A broadcasting ship that belonged to the South Korean Navy was also hijacked near Yeonpyeong Island in 1970, along with another fishing boat in 1987.
By Christine Kim [[email protected]] -
go north korea
despite what our mm says
we are 100% behind you
else we would not have sold you all those weapons
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When Im Chun-yong made his daring escape from North Korea, with a handful of his special forces men, there were many reasons why the North Korean government was intent on stopping them.
They were, after all, part of Kim Jong-il's elite commandos - privy to a wealth of military secrets and insights into the workings of the reclusive regime.
But among the accounts they carried with them is one of the most shocking yet to emerge – namely the use of humans, specifically mentally or physically handicapped children, to test North Korea's biological and chemical weapons.In video "If you are born mentally or physically deficient, says Im, the government says your best contribution to society… is as a guinea pig for biological and chemical weapons testing."
Even after settling into the relative safety of South Korea, for 10 years Im held on to this secret, saying it was too horrific to recount.
But with Kim's health reportedly failing, and the country appearing increasingly unpredictable, Im felt it was time he spoke out.
Daughter given up
The commander, he says, initially resisted, but after mounting pressure from his military superiors, he gave in.
Im watched as the girl was taken away. She was never seen again.
One of Im's own men later gave him an eyewitness account of human-testing.
Asked to guard a secret facility on an island off North Korea's west coast, Im says the soldier saw a number of people forced into a glass chamber.
"Poisonous gas was injected in," Im says. "He watched doctors time how long it took for them to die."
Other North Korean defectors have long alleged that the secretive nation has been using political prisoners as experimental test subjects.
Some have detailed how inmates were shipped from various concentration camps to so-called chemical "factories".
'Widespread practice'
But Im's is the first account of mentally-ill or physically challenged children being used.
Security analysts believe Kim oversees one of the most aggressive and robust biochemical weapons programmes in the world.
Kim Sang-hun believes there are at least three to five experimental weapons sites
A member of the special forces' Brigade No.19, Im says he was trained on how to use biochemical weapons against the "enemy" – including how to fire them from short-range "bazooka-style" weapons.
He says such training was normal practice for all elite units.
Today it is estimated the country has accumulated a stockpile of more than 5,000 tonnes of biochemical weaponry; from mustard gas, to nerve agents such as sarin, to anthrax and cholera.
The extent of the stockpile is a concern to Kim Sang-hun, a retired UN official who has spent years investigating the North's chemical and biological weapons programme.
He believes over the past 20 years, the programme has advanced at a startling pace, specifically because the country’s rulers approve and support the use of human test subjects.
"Human experimentation is a widespread practice," Kim says."If you are born mentally or physically deficient, the government says your best contribution to society… is as a guinea pig for biological and chemical weapons testing"
Im Chun-yong, former North Korean commando
"I hoped I was wrong, but it is the reality and it is taking place in North Korea and it is taking place at a number of locations."
There are some who question claims that the North conducts human trials. But Kim says he has interviewed hundred of defectors who, more times than not, volunteer personal vivid accounts.
"The programme is now a commonly known fact in the North Korean public," he says.
As a former member of the elite special forces, Im agrees.
While the government may be secretive about a lot of things, he says "when it comes to human experimentation, most know it happens".
Investigating what he says are serious UN violations regarding the rights of children and prisoners, Kim Sang-hun has amassed a vast amount of evidence.
Compiled in folders at his home in Seoul are reams of testimonies and documents.
Some bear what appear to be official government stamps approving the transfer of prisoners from camps to chemical "factories".
He says he believes these are, in reality, experimental weapons sites.
He has pinpointed at least three to five labs that he believes are situated in different parts of the country, including one just a few kilometres north of the capital, Pyongyang.
Security analysts suspect there are as many as 20 such plants across the country.
Biochemical threat
As the world's attention focuses on the North's nuclear programme, Im is worried the international community will miss what he believes is the more imminent threat posed by the country's biochemical arsenal.
Arms experts say at least 30 per cent of North Korea's missile and artillery systems are capable of delivering such weapons. With each successive test, they warn the North's accuracy improves, and so too its range.
Defectors have told of prisoners being shipped to chemical 'factories' The UN Security Council now says it believes three of the seven missiles tested by the North on July 4 were Scud-ER missiles, which are known to be more accurate and have a range of 1,000km.
Tokyo is roughly 1,160km from the base on North Korea's east coast from where the missiles were fired, while other parts of Japan are closer.
Im believes the government would not hesitate to use such arms, saying he has seen the "ruthlessness" of the country’s leaders.
During his escape from North Korea in December 1999, Im says he and his men battled their way out, chased by dozens of members of other commando units.
"I myself killed three men," he says. "Then after swimming across the half frozen Tumen river into China, we sold our guns, and left that life behind."
Im now devotes his time to gathering intelligence about the North's military capabilities.
Even a decade after his escape, the threat he still poses to the North Korean government means that he now lives under the constant protection of South Korea's National Intelligence Service.
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a north korean commando would blend well anywhere.
This SILC is a high-speed semi-submersible craft that can be used to infiltrate North Korean Special Forces. North Korea has adapted technology to focus on invading the ROK; this boat is powered by three inboard-outboard engines and is capable of submerging for limited periods
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north korean weapons produced in Nkorea -
won't just list the North Korean Type-89 under DIRECT COPIES, the stocks are different.
Type 89 in propaganda photo
Captured Type 89-1
Another one -
the north koreans have killed people for no reason.and when some minister of another country called their illustrious leader a "psycho".........either yer xmas or chinese new year would have insane north korean commandos running around killing for no reason.
why dont the old minister from some spore place clam up and cook mee siam mai hum fer a change!!!?is dat too hard to do???
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haha old man at his best again.
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The North Korean embassy officials in Singapore may revenge over MM Lee's remark.
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it is not may seek revenge but is confirmed they will punish spore direct n put flag sayin they did it....what can u do kinda scenario???attack them???give them economic sanctions???north korea already has it all.
so its pretty soon they will do something on spore soil.they arent sporeans but north koreans with decades of terrorist operations n worldwide murders in pakistan,africa,burma and korea..for all u know they might kill off an entire police swat unit just to see who is the better soldier as aN INITIAL TEST.
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korea isnt spores fight.....what lky could do is mind his own butt and make sure salary for all in spore is world class....all doesnt mean all his cabinet members only!
right now majority of spore salary is like something closer to third world standards.
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wonders what would happen if he said he wanted to shove his spurs up some psychopathic people's hides.....:)
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Who knows, n korea might sell arms to spore?
But those wikileaks really damaging to the world.
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one thing about north korean style is they dun anyhow bomb a place or any person....they go straight to that person n blast him n frends up with rocket lauchers,machineguns,bombs and chemical bombs.
