By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 2, 2013 – North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear
capabilities and development of long-range ballistic missile programs
make it one of the most critical U.S. security challenges in Northeast
Asia, according to the Defense Department’s first report to Congress on
that nation’s military development.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered the report, titled,
“Military and Security Developments Involving the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea 2012,” to Congress today.
Required to be
produced annually in classified and unclassified versions by Section
1236 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2012, the
report is DOD’s authoritative statement on North Korea’s current and
future military power, Pentagon officials said. It was developed by the
Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and the Defense
Intelligence Agency.
The Korean People’s Army -- an umbrella
organization composed of ground, air, naval, missile and special
operations forces -- ranks in personnel numbers as the fourth-largest
military in the world. The large, forward-deployed military can inflict
great damage on South Korea despite serious resource shortfalls and
aging hardware, the report said, but the strength of the U.S.-South
Korean alliance deters North Korea from conducting attacks on its
southern neighbor.
On a smaller scale, North Korea has used
military provocation to achieve national goals, the report notes. In
2010, for example, it sank the South Korean naval vessel, Cheonan,
killing 46 South Korean sailors, and shelled Yeonpyeong Island, killing
two South Korean marines and two civilians.
North Korea’s
continued pursuit of nuclear technology and capabilities and its
development of long-range ballistic missile programs -- including the
December 2012 Taepodong-2 missile launch and the April 2012 display of a
new road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile -- demonstrate North
Korea’s threat to regional stability and U.S. national security, the
report observed.
These programs, North Korea’s hostility toward
South Korea, and the proliferation of items prohibited under U.N.
Security Council Resolutions 1718, 1874 and 2087 make North Korea a
continued security challenge for the United States and its allies and
partners, the report said.
The report assesses the following aspects of North Korean military power:
-- The security situation on the Korean Peninsula, goals and factors
shaping North Korean security strategy, and military strategy;
-- Trends in North Korean security;
-- North Korea’s regional security objectives, including North Korean
military capabilities, developments in North Korean military doctrine,
and training;
-- North Korea’s proliferation activities; and
-- Other military security developments.
North Korea’s strategy under Kim Jong Il, who was supreme leader from
1994 until his death in 2011, focused on internal security, coercive
diplomacy to compel acceptance of its diplomatic, economic and security
interests, development of strategic military capabilities to deter
external attack, and challenging South Korea and the U.S.-South Korean
alliance, the report said.
“We anticipate these strategic goals will be consistent under North Korea’s new leader, Kim Jong Un,” the report added.
On the topic of cyber capabilities, the report said North Korea
probably has a military computer network operations capability. North
Korea may view computer network operations as an appealing platform from
which to collect intelligence, the report added, and the nation has
been implicated since 2009 in cyberattacks ranging from computer network
exploitation to distributed denial of service attacks.
In
assessing North Korea’s security situation, the report said, “North
Korea continues to fall behind the rising power of its regional
neighbors, creating a widening military disparity and fueling its
commitment to improving asymmetric and strategic deterrent capabilities
as the primary guarantor of regime survival.”
Tensions on the
Korean Peninsula have grown as relations between North and South Korea
worsen, the report noted. North Korea has portrayed South Korea and the
United States as constant threats to North Korea’s sovereignty in a
probable attempt to legitimize the Kim family rule, its draconian
internal control mechanisms and existing strategies, the report said.
“The regime’s greatest security concern is opposition from within,” the
report added, “and outside forces taking advantage of internal
instability to topple the regime and achieve unification of the Korean
Peninsula.”
North Korea seeks recognition as an equal and
legitimate international player and recognized nuclear power and seeks
to normalize its diplomatic relations with the Western world and pursue
economic recovery and prosperity, the report said.
“[North
Korea’s] rhetoric suggests the regime at this time is unlikely to pursue
this second goal at the expense of the primary goal of pursuing its
nuclear and missile capabilities,” the report added.
North Korea
is attempting to upgrade its conventional weapons by reinforcing
long-range artillery forces near the Demilitarized Zone that separates
North Korea and South Korea, the report said, and has a substantial
number of mobile ballistic missiles that could strike targets in South
Korea and Japan.
“These advances in ballistic missile delivery
systems, coupled with developments in nuclear technology, are in line
with North Korea’s stated objectives to strike the U.S. homeland,” the
report said.
Weapon sales are a critical source of foreign
currency for North Korea, the report said, and it is unlikely to cease
export activities.
North Korea also continues to invest in
nuclear infrastructure. It conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and
2013 and could conduct more tests at any time, the report said,
violating its obligations under four U.N. Security Council resolutions
and the September 2005 Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks.
Global concern about North Korea’s proliferation activity continues to
mount, leading some nations to take action. In June 2011, for example, a
vessel bound for Burma, suspected of carrying military-related cargo,
returned to North Korea after refusing a U.S. Navy inspection request.
In February 2010, South Africa seized North Korean-origin spare tank
parts destined for the Republic of Congo. In December 2009, Thai
authorities impounded the cargo of a chartered plane containing about 35
metric tons of North Korean weapons including artillery rockets,
rocket-propelled grenades and surface-to-air missiles. In October of
that year, South Korea seized North Korean-origin chemical-warfare
protective suits destined for Syria.
“The United States remains
vigilant in the face of North Korea’s continued provocations and
steadfast in commitments to allies in the region, including the security
provided by extended deterrence commitments through the nuclear
umbrella and conventional forces,” the report said.
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