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  Interview: Kim Myong Chol May 4, 2003 Reporter :Jana Wendt  With Foreign Minister Alexander Downer summoning North Korea's Ambassador to Australia, Chon Jae Hong, to a meeting this week to express concern about the Pyongyang Government's possible role in trafficking drugs - following the interception of a North Korean ship accused of bringing $80 million worth of heroin into Australia - Jana Wendt talks to a man many consider to be the unofficial spokesman for the North Korean government. Kim Myong Chol wears his unofficial title as a badge of honour...TRANSCRIPT: KIM MYONG CHOL JANA WENDT: Kim Myong Chol, thank you very much for joining us. The Australian Foreign Minister says that it would be an outrage if North Korea was trafficking drugs into Australia. Is North Korea involved in drug trafficking? KIM MYONG CHOL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR KOREA-AMERICAN PEACE: I'm afraid Australian Foreign Minister is entirely wrong. The ship may be North Korean ship, the strong likelihood is that the ship was simply used by some evil forces to traffic heroin. This doesn't mean the North Korean Government was involved here. JANA WENDT: Well, Alexander Downer, the Foreign Minister, says that intelligence services have given the Australian Government information that says that North Korea has been involved in drug trafficking. Now that would suggest that they have some hard evidence, wouldn't it? KIM MYONG CHOL: I'm afraid, so far the US or Japan has all failed to produce hard evidence that the North Korean Government was involved in traffic of drugs or narcotics. JANA WENDT: Do you accept that this issue has the potential, as the Foreign Minister said, to become a very serious one between North Korea and Australia? KIM MYONG CHOL: If the Australian Government tried to do so, it is a bit unfortunate. Australian Government should be careful in handling some issue. JANA WENDT: Well, I think the Australian Government has handled this carefully to this point, but as I say the Foreign Minister is saying that he is getting information that your government has been involved in the past. Can you categorically say that North Korea has never traded in drugs? KIM MYONG CHOL: To all purposes and intents, North Korean Government has never been involved in such traffic. JANA WENDT: Well, on board the ship, we now know, was a member of the ruling party. What was his role on the ship? Can you tell me? KIM MYONG CHOL: As a matter of fact, you know, one in every 20 North Korean is a member of Workers Party of Korea, so any organisation in North Korea has a member of the Workers Party of Korea. It is not news. JANA WENDT: But why would an official of the ruling party, an official of the ruling party, be present on board such a ship? KIM MYONG CHOL: Not official, simply member of the Workers Party of Korea, nothing else. JANA WENDT: But the Australian Government says there was just one, and they were wondering what his role was on board that ship. KIM MYONG CHOL: As you know that is a political organisation, it gives a kind of political education, political guidance, that is their job, nothing else. JANA WENDT: So he was on board to give political education and guidance to the crew members, was he? KIM MYONG CHOL: That's all, nothing else. JANA WENDT: Would he be the kind of person who would be watching out for possible defections from on board that ship? KIM MYONG CHOL: (Laughs) No, no, no. Highly unlikely. In any country there are some defections, defections from South Korea, defections from the US, any country. There is no need for the North Korean Party to watch for such a thing. JANA WENDT: Well, Mr Kim, there aren't any defections, as you put it, from the US, or from a country like Australia, but there is a suggestion that because your country is a dictatorship that people are more likely to want to defect. KIM MYONG CHOL: I'm afraid that North Korea is a dictatorship, yes. If that is the case, there is also a dictatorship under Bush. JANA WENDT: All right, so your message to the Australian Government is that North Korea is not involved and the evidence will show in relation to this particular ship that the North Korean Government was not involved? KIM MYONG CHOL: Yes. JANA WENDT: Let's move on to broader issues. What kind - we have a situation where you have a nuclear stand-off, it appears to be, between your country and the US at the moment. What kind of nuclear weapons does North Korea have, and how many? KIM MYONG CHOL: North Korea has a nuclear capability. It's quite obvious. North Korea may have minimum 100 nuclear warheads, maximum 300. They all lock onto American cities. JANA WENDT: Well, Mr, Kim, that means that North Korea breached the agreement that it made with president Clinton in '94, and was busily producing deadly nuclear weapons during that period. Is that right? KIM MYONG CHOL: No, no, North Korea produced all its weapons before that agreement was signed. JANA WENDT: All right, well you've just given us a picture of a massive number of nuclear weapons that you say North Korea has. Does it intend to use those weapons if the US does not give it what North Korea wants from the US? KIM MYONG CHOL: If the US attacks North Korea, North Korea will definitely use those nuclear weapons against the US mainland. JANA WENDT: All right, there is talk of a possible economic embargo by the US of your country, would North Korea considering using those weapons in the event of an economic embargo? KIM MYONG CHOL: Yes, definitely. North Korea will use those nuclear weapons against the US mainland if America imposes additional economic sanctions on North Korea. JANA WENDT: Mr Kim, where were these weapons that you talk about - between 100 and 300, you just said - where were they tested? KIM MYONG CHOL: The weapons are stored in underground sites. Those are facilities. America has no knowledge of where they are. JANA WENDT: Yes, but how were these weapons actually tested? Because without testing them you would not know if they worked, would you? KIM MYONG CHOL: The computer simulation have the kind of job, and also the Pakistanis have done the job for North Korea. JANA WENDT: The Pakistanis have done the job or the testing for North Korea? KIM MYONG CHOL: Yes. JANA WENDT: When I spoke to the Pakistani High Commission, they told me that your claim that the Pakistanis had done this, which you have made before, is, in their words, "totally wrong". KIM MYONG CHOL: Of course they must deny that. JANA WENDT: Mr Kim, you are described as the unofficial spokesman for the North Korean Government. Do you accept that title? Is that what you are? KIM MYONG CHOL: That's the title granted by New York Times, Washington Post, the BBC, and other Western media. If they give me that kind of title, I'm delighted, I'm flattered. JANA WENDT: So when I speak to you, I'm hearing the voice of the North Korean Government? KIM MYONG CHOL: It's up to you. JANA WENDT: Well, I'm asking you. When you deliver the message that you're delivering here today, is that the message that the North Korean Government wants to get out? KIM MYONG CHOL: Yes. JANA WENDT: Does that make you a propagandist for a dictator, Kim Jong-Il? KIM MYONG CHOL: No, the news magazines call me a spin doctor for North Korea and Kim Jong. It's an honourable title for me. JANA WENDT: It's an honourable title for you? KIM MYONG CHOL: Yeah. JANA WENDT: All right, Kim Myong Chol, I thank you very much for your time. ENDS |
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