CONTENTS
1. US-DPRK Talks
2. DPRK-Japan Talks
3. ROK Policy toward DPRK
4. Korean War Massacre
5. Japanese Military Posture
6. PRC Threat to Taiwan
7. PRC Military Budget
II. Republic of Korea 1. DPRK-PRC Relations
2. PRC Policy toward Korean Peninsula
3. DPRK-US Talks
4. Japanese Aid to DPRK
5. ROK President’s Vatican Visit
6. Italian Foreign Minister’s DPRK Visit
7. DPRK-Italy Economic Cooperation
8. ROK Electronics to be Exhibited in DPRK
II. Russian Federation 1. Japanese Aid to DPRK
2. Death of DPRK Diplomat in Moscow
3. Transfer of US Korean War Prisoners to USSR
4. Alleged ROK Spying on RF
5. RF-PRC Relations
6. RF-PRC Space Cooperation
7. PRC-Taiwan Relations
8. PRC Membership in WTO
9. PRC Defense Budget
10. Norwegian Radar Station
11. RF Fighter Development
I. United States
1. US-DPRK Talks
Agence France Presse (“US, NORTH KOREA SET TO RESUME TALKS,” New York, 3/7/00) reported that an anonymous US State Department official said that US special envoy Charles Kartman and his counterpart, DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-Gwan were to resume talks in New York on Tuesday. The official said that Kim and Kartman were to meet informally first and discuss a substantive agenda for a visit to Washington by a top DPRK government representative. The official said, “today there will be some informal contacts between the delegations, then on Wednesday there will be a full delegation meeting.” The DPRK mission to the UN in New York acknowledged that the DPRK delegation had arrived, but declined to give any further details. The US State Department official said that the preparations for the future high-level visit will include the “crafting of a substantive agenda ” aimed at improving bilateral relations, particularly on the issues of the DPRK missile and nuclear programs. Hyung-kook Kim, Asian Studies director at American University in Washington, stated, “the delegation from North Korea will be under extreme pressure from the North Korean leadership to get as much as possible. They are probably concerned with the timing of lifting economic sanctions and deleting North Korea from the terrorist list as soon as possible. The terrorist list is a key issue.”
2. DPRK-Japan Talks
Agence France Presse (“JAPAN RESUMES FOOD AID BEFORE FULL DIPLOMATIC TALKS WITH NORTH KOREA,” Tokyo, 3/7/00) reported that Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki announced that Japan will send 100,000 tons of rice to the DPRK in the hopes of improving Japan-DPRK relations. Aoki said, “as for negotiations on diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea, full talks will resume in the first half of April.” Aoki said that after the preparatory talks last December, no further preliminary talks would be needed. Instead, he said, the first round of proper negotiations on setting up diplomatic ties would begin in Pyongyang, the next in Japan, and then in the PRC or elsewhere. Aoki stated, “it is our belief that the resumption of full meetings on normalization of diplomatic relations will not only help correct abnormal relations between Japan and North Korea and settle various problems through dialogue but also contribute to the easing of tension on the Korean peninsula and the security of our country.”
3. ROK Policy toward DPRK
Far Eastern Economic Review (Frank Ching “EYE ON ASIA: KIM’S ‘SUNSHINE’ POLICY AT WORK,” 3/9/00, 163:10.) reported that ROK officials said that the atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula has improved dramatically in recent months. Cho Baek-sang, head of the ROK Foreign Ministry’s inter-Korean policy division, commented that “we feel less threatened than before,” but acknowledged that it will take “a long time to resolve issues and narrow differences.” One unnamed senior official credited ROK President Kim Dae-jung’s “sunshine” policy for helping improve DPRK ties. The anonymous official said, “the sunshine policy means South Korea’s policy is to emphasize economic and trade cooperation” with the DPRK. “We’ve given up the policy of absorption. We’re not in a position to feed 25 million North Koreans. This new policy ought to be less scary for North Korea, which is concerned with political security.” The article said that while the DPRK has not responded directly to Kim’s overtures and continues to denounce him, the frequency of such denunciations has dropped. The author wrote that Kim’s efforts have created an environment in which the DPRK’s relations with other countries have improved and the integration of the DPRK into the international community, like economic cooperation between the two Koreas, will make the DPRK a more open society with a less radical government.
4. Korean War Massacre
The Associated Press (Pauline Jelinek, “NO GUN RI COMPENSATION TALKS SOUGHT,” Washington, 3/7/00) reported that Korean survivors of the alleged mass killing at No Gun-ri have hired Robert Swift, a Holocaust compensation expert, to help press their demands for payment and an apology from the US government. In a Washington news conference on March 6, survivors and their lawyers said that they believed that the US Army probe was going too slowly and that they fear it may whitewash the incident. Swift called on US President Bill Clinton to appoint someone to begin negotiating with survivors and their lawyers to confirm the facts of the case and negotiate compensation and an apology. US Army spokesman Major Thomas Collins said on March 6 that investigators were “moving as fast as we can but don’t know if we can be done by June.” Full coverage of this story is located at http://saig-web3.ignet.army.mil/nogunri/index.htm.
5. Japanese Military Posture
The Washington Times (Geoffrey Smith, “JAPAN EXPANDING DEFENSE ROLE,” 3/7/00, P.11) reported that US experts said that Japan appears ready to assume a greater defense role to promote stability in East Asia. Joseph Nye, dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, said that trends over the past 10 years that show Japan to be increasing its security role in the world are expected to continue and probably even accelerate in the years ahead. Nye said at a conference on US-Japan relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) last week that “Japan is doing drastically more in the world than it was 10 years ago.” Defense Attache Major General Noboru Yamaguchi said in a speech last week at Johns Hopkins University’s School for Advanced International Studies that “new types” of threats have appeared in the region. Yamaguchi specifically cited the August 1998 DPRK launch of a Taepodong missile and increased tensions over Taiwan. Yamaguchi said, “Japanese sea lines go through and around Taiwan, so Japan also is going to lose [if there is a war]. My personal feeling is that if something happens over the Taiwan Strait, everyone is going to lose.” William Breer, who holds the Japan chair for CSIS, said that the US seems mixed in its reaction to Japan’s efforts to build a stronger military. Breer said, “I think most thinking Americans would say that if [a stronger Japanese military] happens through Japan’s revisional process, then it’s OK.” Breer said that efforts were under way to amend the constitution in Japan “to bring the constitution in line with the current reality” but not to “remilitarization a la the 1930s.” [Ed. note: This article was included in the US Department of Defense’s Early Bird news service for March 7, 2000.]
6. PRC Threat to Taiwan
The New York Times (Craig S. Smith, “CHINA’S THREAT TO TAIWAN: LIKELIHOOD OF ATTACK DEEMED LOW,” Shanghai, 3/6/00) reported that US analysts said that the US government often overlooks the fact that the PRC’s military options for attacking Taiwan remain limited and impractical. Jonathan Pollack, a PRC specialist at the Rand Corporation in California, said, “there’s no way at this moment that Beijing has the weapons in its arsenal in sufficient numbers to undertake and sustain a major, full-scale assault on Taiwan.” Smith wrote that most Western military experts say it will be years, if not decades, before the PRC can mount a credible threat. He added that while the PRC does have alternatives to an invasion, none of them seem likely. The option that experts in Taiwan and the West take most seriously, because it is the one most available to the PRC today, would be a short, Kosovo-like missile campaign intended to devastate Taiwan’s economy and supplemented with information warfare or sabotage by the PRC’s agents on the island. Eric McVadon, a retired United States Navy rear admiral and a former defense attache in the PRC, said, “if it didn’t work, Beijing may not be greatly harmed by great loss of forces, as may be the case with other options.” McVadon said that this is the possibility that most worries him, because such an act could isolate the PRC diplomatically and halt most exports to the US and other major markets. An anonymous Hong Kong-based economist said that if the PRC chose a missile campaign and failed, it “would mean the end of the regime. The risk to the party is far more than just more economic stress.” [Ed. note: This article was included as a Top Story in the US Department of Defense’s Early Bird news service for March 7, 2000.]
7. PRC Military Budget
The Associated Press (Marcos Calo Medina, “TAIWAN: CHINA HIDES WEAPON SPENDING,” Taipei, 3/7/00) reported that Taiwan’s Defense spokesman Kung Fan-ding said on Tuesday that the PRC is hiding much of its weapons spending, which is probably three to five times the PRC’s official figure. Kung said, “regarding the numbers reported by the Chinese military, a lot of the information is not announced and cannot be confirmed.” He said that the PRC has steadily improved its military by buying costly advanced weaponry over the last ten years, which shows their spending to be more than it actually reports. PRC Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao defended the increase in defense spending on Tuesday, saying it was geared toward meeting outside threats. Zhu said, “the money required for defense and military modernization still falls short of the real needs. If there is no serious threat to the security and sovereignty of the country, defense expenditure will not increase substantially.” Zhu said that the spending for the 2.5 million- strong army was the world’s lowest per capita, and that much of the increase covered salaries and services or made up revenue lost in divesting commercial businesses. However, foreign analysts said that weapons research and foreign purchases are not included in the PRC’s public figure. Analysts said that the PRC is spending more than US$1 billion annually to buy foreign weapons, and that sum may triple over the next five years.
II. Republic of Korea
1. DPRK-PRC Relations
The Korea Herald (Kim Ji-ho, “NORTH KOREA STEPS UP EFFORTS TO CEMENT TIES WITH BEIJING,” Seoul, 03/07/00), The Korea Times (“NK FOREIGN MINISTER LIKELY TO VISIT CHINA THIS MONTH,” Seoul, 03/06/00) and Chosun Ilbo (Kim In-ku, “NK LEADER VISITS CHINESE EMBASSY,” Seoul, 03/06/00) reported that DPRK leader Kim Jong-il made a rare visit to the PRC embassy in Pyongyang. The DPRK’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that Kim visited the PRC mission on March 5 “on the occasion of the new year, and at the request of the Chinese ambassador to North Korea, Wan Yongxiang.” DPRK observers in the ROK noted that it was extremely unusual for the DPRK leader, who has never traveled overseas and seldom meets foreigners even in his own country, to visit a diplomatic mission. KCNA said, “a Chinese official presented great leader Kim Jong-il with a bouquet and the embassy staff welcomed him warmly. Kim expressed his appreciation for the invitation and conversed with leading officials of the embassy in a cordial and friendly manner.” Officials in the ROK also placed significance on the visit. One official said, “North Korea’s top officials have never personally visited foreign embassies in Pyongyang. Actually, the same might be said for leaders of other countries.” He added that the DPRK may have wanted to demonstrate its exceptionally strong relationship with the PRC, particularly prior to its crucial talks with the US and Japan. The official added that DPRK Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun is also scheduled to visit the PRC on March 18, reciprocating PRC counterpart Tang Jiaxuan’s visit to Pyongyang last October. ROK analysts said that despite the rapid improvements in relations between them last year, the DPRK wants ties to be strengthened at an even quicker pace, to guarantee crucial negotiating leverage in upcoming talks with the US and Japan. The official added, “besides, North Korea might have wanted to ease China’s concerns about Pyongyang’s rapid improvement of relations with the West, and thus win guarantees of continuous support and food aid from China.”
2. PRC Policy toward Korean Peninsula
Chosun Ilbo (Jee Hae-bum, “CHINA SUPPORTS PEACE ON THE PENINSULA,” Seoul, 03/07/00) reported that PRC Prime Minister Zhu Rongji announced on March 6, on the first day of the national legislature, that the PRC still supports peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. Zhu said that last year, the PRC had strengthened reciprocal relations with the ROK while maintaining traditionally friendly ties with the DPRK, hinting that the PRC’s policy towards the ROK and the DPRK will remain the same this year.
3. DPRK-US Talks
The Korea Times (Son Key-young, “SETTING FOR US-NK TALKS, THOUGH UGLY, LIKELY TO BRING POSITIVE OUTCOME,” Seoul, 03/05/00) and The Korea Times (“US, NORTH KOREA TOP-LEVEL MEETING IN WASHINGTON ON TRACK,” Seoul, 03/05/00) reported that the arrangements were made for the resumption of US- DPRK talks in New York on March 6. The talks will center around two main issues: a high-level DPRK official’s visit to Washington and the removal of the DPRK from the US list of terrorist states. ROK officials had originally said that the talks between former defense secretary William Perry and the DPRK’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju would be broken up into various expert-level talks on nuclear issues, missile nonproliferation, the improvement of US- DPRK ties and, if requested, how to drop the DPRK from a US list of states sponsoring terrorism. However, the DPRK did not cooperate with the strategies of the ROK and the US by synchronizing an expert-level meeting on terrorism issues with the preparatory talks.
4. Japanese Aid to DPRK
The Korea Times (“JAPAN TO RESUME FOOD AID TO NORTH KOREA: REPORTS,” Seoul, 03/03/00) reported that Japan was to announce that it is sending 100,000 tons of rice to the DPRK as a prelude to full-fledged talks on setting up diplomatic ties. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki was to announce on March 7 the first food aid to the DPRK in three years.
5. ROK President’s Vatican Visit
The Korea Herald (Chon Shi-yong, “POPE, KIM CALL ON INT’L COMMUNITY TO HELP N.K.,” Rome, 03/05/00) and Chosun Ilbo (Kim Min-bai, “PRESIDENT SUGGESTS NK VISIT TO POPE,” Seoul, 03/05/00) reported that ROK President Kim Dae-jung suggested on March 4 that Pope John Paul II visit the DPRK. Kim made the proposal to the Pope and an audience at the Vatican. The occasion marked the first time an ROK head of state has visited the Roman Catholic leader. Presidential spokesman Park Joon-young said that Kim told the pontiff that a visit to the DPRK by the head of the Roman Catholic Church would be a great contribution to peace not only on the Korean Peninsula, but throughout Asia and the world. Park said that the Pope responded that he did not have any plans to visit the DPRK at the moment, and that it would be a “miracle” if he could travel to the DPRK.
The Korea Times (Lee Chang-sup, “POPE CALLS ON INT’L SOCIETY TO HELP RELIEVE SUFFERING OF N.KOREANS,” Rome, 03/06/00) reported that Pope John Paul II during his public meeting with ROK President Kim Dae-jung called upon the international community to show generosity in helping relieve the suffering of DPRK citizens. The Pope said, “certainly, the path of reconciliation will be long and difficult. Yet, despite the obstacles you have not allowed yourself to become discouraged in your endeavors to establish a climate of good and harmonious relations. I encourage the efforts that President Kim has been endeavored to respond to their needs at this difficult time and I take this opportunity to call upon the international community to continue to show generosity in helping relieve the suffering of the North Korean victims.”
6. Italian Foreign Minister’s DPRK Visit
The Korea Times (“DINI TO BRING ABOUT BREAKTHROUGH IN S-N RELATIONS,” Rome, 03/05/00) reported that ROK President Kim Dae-jung expects Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini to bring about a major breakthrough in inter-Korean relations. The expectation was expressed after Dini unveiled his plan to visit the DPRK late this month. The foreign minister outlined three principles he would convey to the DPRK during his visit. Dini said that the DPRK must shed its isolationism and improve its human rights condition before seeking to become a responsible member of international society. Dini added, “the country must improve inter-Korean relations before it expects western countries to open ties.” Dini told Kim and Foreign Affairs-Trade Minister Lee Joung-binn that Italy’s ties with the DPRK would serve to normalize inter-Korean relations on a gradual basis.
7. DPRK-Italy Economic Cooperation
The Korea Times (“FIAT TO PROVIDE AUTO ASSEMBLY LICENSE TO N.KOREA,” Rome, 03/05/00) reported that Italy’s FIAT group has unveiled a plan to team up with Reverend Moon Sun-myung’s Unification Church group to launch a FIAT assembly plant in the DPRK. FIAT honorary chairman Giovanni Agnelli formally informed visiting ROK President Kim Dae-jung of the plan on March 4 during a meeting at the Saint Regis Grand Hotel in Rome. The Tongil Business Group will control 70 percent of a joint venture while the DPRK has a 30 percent stake. FIAT will permit the joint venture firm to assemble its models. According to Chong Wa Dae spokesman Park Joon-young, the FIAT automobile parts will be brought from Vietnam for final assembly in the DPRK. According to FIAT, less than 10,000 cars will be assembled in the DPRK annually. It will be an opportunity for FIAT to penetrate into the Asian market. Kim’s spokesman said that after hearing of the plan, Kim said that the entry of foreign firms to the DPRK will serve to encourage it to go down the path of opening.
8. ROK Electronics to be Exhibited in DPRK
The Korea Times (“SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS APPLIANCE SHOW TO OPEN IN PONGYANG,” Seoul, 03/05/00) reported that Samsung Electronics Company said on March 3 that it seeks to open an exhibition of digital electronics appliances in the DPRK in early May to help them better understand Samsung. The company also plans to set up an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) advertising board at the Pyongyang Gymnasium, and will provide related equipment for 10 years. An official from Samsung said, “taking North Koreans’ living standard into consideration, we plan to display electronic appliances like TVs, refrigerators, washing machines and some digital communication equipment.” The Unification Ministry said that Samsung Electronics recently applied for official approval to send equipment worth US$4 million, including two Pentium III computers, to set up the LCD advertising board in the DPRK.
II. Russian Federation
1. Japanese Aid to DPRK
Izvestia (“TOKYO PLANS TO SHARE ITS RICE,” Moscow, 4, 03/04/00) reported that Japan planned to provide about 100,000 tons of rice via UN agencies to the DPRK. After the DPRK missile test in 1998, Japan canceled its assistance to the DPRK. However, Japanese diplomats are now trying to link the food aid with a resumption of diplomatic contacts. So far, there are no official Japan-DPRK diplomatic relations.
2. Death of DPRK Diplomat in Moscow
Nezavisimaia Gazeta (Oleg Nedumov, “A NORTH KOREAN DIPLOMAT DIED IN A ROAD ACCIDENT,” Moscow, 2, 02/26/00) reported that O Yon-cher, an official of the Commercial Counselor Department of the DPRK Embassy in Moscow, was killed in an accident on February 25 when his Mercedes car smashed into a MAZ lorry. An unidentified woman in the car was also killed.
3. Transfer of US Korean War Prisoners to USSR
Izvestia’s Taras Lariokhin (“DRESSED IN RAGS AND HALF-FROZEN,” Moscow, 9, 02/29/00) reported that the US Defense Department acquired a manuscript written by “a Russian emigrant” containing 22 names of US servicemen allegedly brought to a coal-mine prison camp in the Krasnoyarsk Region in 1951 during the Korean War. The author referred to a woman who, at that time, managed to contact the US prisoners. However, only one name coincided with the names contained in the official US Missing In Action lists, namely Chung Ja Park Kim, “a Korean of Hawaiian origin.” Norman Kass, Executive Secretary, Joint RF-US POW/MIA Commission, said that the data could hardly be confirmed by “an independent party,” but the author “could be trusted.” Kass hoped to obtain access to Soviet GULAG archives of the time, but admits that “the work will be a difficult one.”
4. Alleged ROK Spying on RF
Subbotnik NG [a supplement to Nezavisimaia Gazeta] (“QUESTIONS OF VALENTIN MOISEYEV’S WIFE,” Moscow, 7, 02/26/00) published a letter by N.M.Denisova, wife of Valentin Moiseyev, former Deputy Director of the RF Foreign Ministry’s First Asian Department, who was arrested in 1988 in Moscow and charged with spying in favor of the ROK. Denisova claimed that her husband’s recruitment by ROK intelligence has still not been proven. Denisova said that her husband’s ROK diplomatic counterpart did not sign any “admission” protocols. She also said that nothing has shown that her husband transferred RF secret documents to ROK diplomats, or that he received an award for the work. Denisova wrote, “the South Korean diplomat came to Moiseyev’s home, drank some tea and found himself a persona non grata. It was necessary to remove none other but Moiseyev? Why? Because he never hid his North Korean sympathies? Because he thought our North Korean policy erroneous?”
5. RF-PRC Relations
Segodnya (Aleksandr Chudodeyev, “EACH GREAT POWER HAS GOT ITS OWN CHECHNYA,” Moscow, 2, 03/02/00) reported that Acting RF President Vladimir Putin on March 1 met PRC Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan in the Kremlin. Putin said that RF-PRC partner-like relations were of “both global nature and that of regional and bilateral cooperation.” However, the message by PRC Chairman Jiang Zemin to Putin contained an appeal “to fill both countries’ aspiration for strategic interaction with concrete content,” which meant that the PRC wanted RF support on the Taiwan issue.
Nezavisimaia Gazeta (Natalia Airapetova, “SHOULD RUSSIA BE WARY OF CHINA,” Moscow, 8, 03/03/00) published an interview with Vilya Gelgras, Professor of the Asia-Africa Institute of the Moscow State University and a leading expert on the PRC. Gelgras said that RF and PRC leaders use such terms as “strategic partnership,” which is allegedly the basis of RF-PRC relations, differently. However, the PRC has agreed to include the term in its agreements with the US, France, Great Britain and Japan as well. Gelgras said that it was a dangerous illusion to believe that the PRC will support the RF on radical issues just because the term is contained in the bilateral documents. Meanwhile, the PRC has managed to get concessions from the RF concerning some territories and islands along the RF-PRC border. The author criticized Evgeny Primakov’s idea of a Moscow-Beijing-Delhi “alliance” and stressed that the PRC Constitution bans any alliances. He believed that the economic prospects for the PRC and Japan in the 21st century are exaggerated, and that the PRC’s “demographic expansion” to the RF Far East is “a myth.”
6. RF-PRC Space Cooperation
Izvestia (Sergey Leskov, “A CHINATOWN IN THE ORBIT,” Moscow, 1, 03/06/00) reported that RF Vice-Premier Ilya Klebanov’s 3-day visit to the PRC resulted in a decision that the RF would help the PRC to create an orbital space station. The PRC would provide the money while RF space designers would provide the work. For the PRC, it would be much cheaper “to import” the RF-made “Mir” space station because it would only cost US$500 million for 3-4 years, while building an entirely new station would cost several billion dollars. The PRC also lacks reliable launching means. Aleksandr Serebrov, a Pilot Cosmonaut for the former Soviet Union, said, “we should be ready for the Chinese flag to be hoisted on the ‘Mir’ station. They would surely demand that. Principally for us it would be easier to get an agreement with the Chinese than with the Americans…. Maybe it would be possible to create a more reasonable arrangement with the Chinese. Their astronauts are very attentive, they are born A-graders.” According to PRC customs, PRC-RF trade increased 14.9 percent and reached US$4.2 billion last year officially, with unofficial estimates at US$5.7 billion.
7. PRC-Taiwan Relations
Segodnya (“TAIWAN WILL NOT HOLD REUNIFICATION TALKS WITH THE P.R.C,” Moscow, 4, 02/23/00) reported that Taiwan rejected the PRC’s proposal to hold talks on reunification and repeated that the states on both sides of the Straits of Taiwan were governed by sovereign governments.
Izvestia (“TAIWAN IS NOT AFRAID OF MAINLAND CHINA’S THREATS,” Moscow, 4, 02/23/00) reported that Henry Cheng, Taiwan Foreign Ministry Spokesman, said that the PRC should stop intimidating Taiwan, because “we are a sovereign state and have full right to establish diplomatic relations with any country and to participate in any international associations.”
Nezavisimaia Gazeta (“BEIJING-WASHINGTON CONFRONTATION ON THE RISE,” Moscow, 6, 02/25/00) reported that US State Department Spokesman James Rubin said that the US could not ignore the new threats against Taiwan made by the PRC. The PRC Ambassador to Washington was invited to the US State Department for explanations, while the US Defense Department made it clear that it could send its ship to the area.
8. PRC Membership in WTO
Segodnya (“BEIJING AND E.U. CANCELLED TALKS ON CHINA’S ENTRY TO W.T.O.,” Moscow, 5, 02/25/00) reported that European Union-PRC talks on PRC membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) were canceled on February 24. An agreement was expected to be signed soon, but the cancellation possibly has to do with PRC-US controversy over the recent PRC increased threats against Taiwan.
9. PRC Defense Budget
Sovetskaya Rossia (“CHINA INCREASES EXPENDITURE ON DEFENSE NEEDS,” Moscow, 3, 03/07/00) reported that the PRC Finance Minister told the All-China Assembly of People’s Representatives in Beijing that the PRC this year planned to increase its defense expenditure by 12.7 percent to US$16 billion.
10. Norwegian Radar Station
Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye (Anatoly Dyakov and Teodor Postol, “ANTI-MISSILE FRONT IN THE NORTH OF NORWAY,” Moscow, 6, 02/25-03/02/00, #7(180)) published an article on US arrangements for national anti-missile defense. The authors claim that the recent US steps to upgrade the early-warning radar stations in Great Britain, Thule, Grand Forks and Clea are exactly suited to modernize the technical capabilities necessary for an anti- missile system aimed against the RF and the PRC, rather than the DPRK, Iraq or Iran. The author also said the US radar station in Norway called HAVE STARE which is allegedly intended to monitor space debris was in fact suited to monitor RF missile tests.
11. RF Fighter Development
Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye (“THE FIRST FLIGHT OF ‘1.44’,” Moscow, 1, 03/03-16/00, #8(181)) reported that an experimental MiG fighter known as item 1.44 made its first flight on March 29. It is a so-called fifth-generation fighter.
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