By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
North Korea reportedly sold 10,000 automatic rifles to the Muslim separatist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Philippines? largest armed militia, which is allegedly linked to the international terrorist group al-Qaida, Japan?s Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday.
South Korea?s National Intelligence Service (NIS), however, told The Korea Times it was not aware of the secret deal being struck between North Korea and the terrorist group in the Philippines.
``Even though we have classified information on the North?s attempts to sell its firearms to third countries, we are not aware of any deal being successfully made,?? an NIS official said, asking not to be named.
The large-circulation newspaper in Japan quoted an intelligence agency in Southeast Asia as saying that Lim Kyu-do, a firearms dealer from the North, signed the $2 million contract with the MILF in the middle of 1999 to deliver those arms, including 10,000 M16 rifles, grenades and 200 guns of other kinds.
The MILF gave two $1-million checks to the North via a Malaysian agent on Sept. 25 in return for the Pyongyang regime?s delivery of the firearms in several shipments to Mindanao island, the stronghold of the terrorist group, by the end of 2000, the daily said.
The agency in Southeast Asia could confirm the trade by confiscating documents from the MILF in November last year and swiftly raised precautious measures against further attempts by the North of exporting its weapons system to the militia, the daily said.
In addition to the firearms, the MILF expressed its intention to buy the North?s small-scale submarines in June 1999 and delivered ``hundreds of thousands of dollars?? to the North in 2002 as an initial payment, the newspaper said. But the MILF?s attempt to buy submarines were detected by the intelligence authorities before the trade was accomplished, the daily added.
North Korea, which suffs from the lack of hard currency, relies on the illegal trade of firearms, drugs and fake dollars, the daily said, arguing that the North?s status as a terrorism-supporting country has once again been proven.
Staff Reporter
North Korea reportedly sold 10,000 automatic rifles to the Muslim separatist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Philippines? largest armed militia, which is allegedly linked to the international terrorist group al-Qaida, Japan?s Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday.
South Korea?s National Intelligence Service (NIS), however, told The Korea Times it was not aware of the secret deal being struck between North Korea and the terrorist group in the Philippines.
``Even though we have classified information on the North?s attempts to sell its firearms to third countries, we are not aware of any deal being successfully made,?? an NIS official said, asking not to be named.
The large-circulation newspaper in Japan quoted an intelligence agency in Southeast Asia as saying that Lim Kyu-do, a firearms dealer from the North, signed the $2 million contract with the MILF in the middle of 1999 to deliver those arms, including 10,000 M16 rifles, grenades and 200 guns of other kinds.
The MILF gave two $1-million checks to the North via a Malaysian agent on Sept. 25 in return for the Pyongyang regime?s delivery of the firearms in several shipments to Mindanao island, the stronghold of the terrorist group, by the end of 2000, the daily said.
The agency in Southeast Asia could confirm the trade by confiscating documents from the MILF in November last year and swiftly raised precautious measures against further attempts by the North of exporting its weapons system to the militia, the daily said.
In addition to the firearms, the MILF expressed its intention to buy the North?s small-scale submarines in June 1999 and delivered ``hundreds of thousands of dollars?? to the North in 2002 as an initial payment, the newspaper said. But the MILF?s attempt to buy submarines were detected by the intelligence authorities before the trade was accomplished, the daily added.
North Korea, which suffs from the lack of hard currency, relies on the illegal trade of firearms, drugs and fake dollars, the daily said, arguing that the North?s status as a terrorism-supporting country has once again been proven.
