U.S. Defense Secretary: North Korea Exports Missiles to Iran

U.S. Defense Secretary: North Korea Exports Missiles to Iran. November. 03, 2007 09:09. srkim@donga.com.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a briefing on November 1 that Iran has secured from North Korea a missile with a range of 2500 kilometers.

At the end of 2005, a new German outlet quoted intelligence authorities saying that North Korea provided 18 BM-25 missiles with a 2500-kilometer range to Iran. The remarks by Gates marked the first time for a senior U.S. government official to confirm such reports.

North Korea’s BM-25 missile is based on the Soviet SS-N-6 (R-27) submarine-launched ballistic missile. However, Gates stopped short of elaborating on the name of the missile, how many units were sold, or when it was delivered to Iran.

North Korea is confirmed to have exported scud missiles with a range from 300 to 500 kilometers, Scud-Bs, Scud-Cs as well as 1300 kilometer-range Rodong missiles to Iran.

Gates’ remarks came when he tried to explain the necessity to establish MD facilities in central and western Europe in order to respond to missile threats from Iran.