The Washington Post has an exclusive look at a letter from Jon Byong-Ho, the ranking NK official on weapons importing/exporting (till he was replaced due to old age this past April). The letter is addressed to A.Q. Khan, the infamous man behind Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme who is alleged to have provided nuke technology to North Korea, Libya, Iran and Iraq. The subject in general is a trade-off or bribe of money and jewels in exchange for nuclear technology, while also alluding to an assassination attempt on the North Korean liaison by the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency. A transcription of the letter in question:
SECRET BY HAND
Dr. A.Q.Khan Ref No. 1998/01
Project Director Date; July 15, 1998
K.R.L.
Excellency,
I am hoping you and your family are fine.
Gen. Kang Tae Yun came back with the body of his wife. I am thanking
you for all your support to him. How kind of you to send Mr. Badrul and
Mr. Farooq and arrange the Airforce Boeing plane. I am certain that Gen.
Kang was the target and I have no doubt that the CIA, South Korean
intelligence agents and your ISI were involved. I have come to hear that the
murderer was set free by the ISI after just a short time. Since Gen. Kang's
life is in danger I am sending Mr. Yon in his place. Mr. Yon has served in
Iran, Egypt, Syria and Libya and is very competent.
Gen. Kang told me that the 3 millions dollars have already been paid to
Army Chief Gen. J. Karamat and half a million dollars and 3 diamond and
ruby sets have been given to Gen. Zulfiqar Khan. Please give the agreed
documents, components etc. to Mr. Yon to be flown back when our plane
returns after delivery of missile components.
Excellency, please be accepting our heartiest felicitations on the recent
success of your nuclear tests. It was only possible because of your hard
work and team effort.
Excellency, I am wishing you good health, long life and success in your
important work.
Yours sincerely,
Jon ByongHo
Secretary of the Workers Party of Korea,
D.P.R. of Korea
3.5 million dollars and a few fistfuls of gems for the nuclear technology the DPRK threatens other nations with regularly seems a pretty good deal for the military-focused Kim Jong-Il regime. It certainly exemplifies their priorities just past the peak of the North Korean famine of the 90s. All of the named Pakistani officials in the letter have vehemently denied that any bribes for technology were accepted (what else would they say?) but the US has stated that it seems pretty consistent with what they know. From The Washington Post:
Jehangir Karamat, a former Pakistani military chief named as the recipient of the $3 million payment, said the letter is untrue. In an e-mail from Lahore, Karamat said that Khan, as part of his defense against allegations of personal responsibility for illicit nuclear proliferation, had tried “to shift blame on others.” Karamat said the letter’s allegations were “malicious with no truth in them whatsoever.”
The other official named in the letter, retired Lt. Gen. Zulfiqar Khan, called it “a fabrication.”
The Pakistani Embassy in Washington declined to comment officially. But a senior Pakistani official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity “to avoid offending” Khan’s supporters, said the letter “is clearly a fabrication. It is not on any official letterhead and bears no seal. . . . The reference to alleged payment and gifts to senior Pakistani military officers is ludicrous.”
There is, however, a Pakistani-Western divide on the letter, which was provided to The Post by former British journalist Simon Henderson, who The Post verified had obtained it from Khan. A U.S. intelligence official who tracks nuclear proliferation issues said it contains accurate details of sensitive matters known only to a handful of people in Pakistan, North Korea and the United States.
A senior U.S. official said separately that government experts concluded after examining a copy of the letter that the signature appears authentic and that the substance is “consistent with our knowledge” now of the same events. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the allegation.
Olli Heinonen, a 27-year veteran of the International Atomic Energy Agency who led its investigation of Khan before moving to Harvard’s Kennedy School last year, said the letter is similar to other North Korean notes that he had seen or received. They typically lacked a letterhead, he said; moreover, he said he has previously heard similar accounts — originating from senior Pakistanis — of clandestine payments by North Korea to Pakistani military officials and government advisers.
The substance of the letter, Heinonen said, “makes a lot of sense,” given what is now known about the North Korean program.
Source: Washington Post / Arms Control Wonk
