North Korea missile test 'brings US within range'
By Richard Spencer in Beijing
Last Updated: 12:31am BST 11/06/2004
North Korea has tested an intercontinental ballistic missile engine capable of hitting the United States, according to a South Korean report.
The potential range of the missile was established by American intelligence from scorch marks and other traces of the engine test, the newspaper Joongang Ilbo said, citing diplomatic sources.
It could reach up to 3,700 miles, enough to hit Alaska.
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North Korea is developing a family of long-range missiles called the Taepodong. Taepodong 1 was test-fired over Japan in 1998. It caused consternation, not least because of the determination of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, to pursue a nuclear weapons programme.
The engine test for Taepodong 2 was carried out last month, Joongang Ilbo said. A full missile test - which would cause a diplomatic crisis - would be the next step.
America has been diverted from its attempts to force North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons by the war in Iraq but the possibility of nuclear-armed missiles being aimed at it would provide a new spur to action.
I don't whether the source is trustworhy though.
The BBC go with the slightly more conservative 3500 mile reach. Whether this figures are vastly over inflated or not, I can't say. Although there is this quote:
Pyongyang's missile programme, which has mainly been developed from the Scud missile.
EDIT:
It also appears that the US greenlighted exports to Iraqi Scud Development.
The CD approved exports in January and February to Iraq's SCUD missile program's procurement agency. These exports allowed Iraq to extend SCUD range far enough to hit allied soldiers in Saudi Arabia and Israeli civilians in Tel Aviv and Haifa.
But wait, there's more.
The 1994 Agreed Framework deal, gave North Korea the capacity to generate enough nuclear fuel to produce almost 100 nuclear bombs per year - according to the House North Korea Advisory Group Key Findings:
Through the provision of two light water reactors (LWRs) under the 1994 Agreed Framework, the United States, through KEDO, will provide North Korea with the capacity to produce annually enough fissile material for nearly 100 nuclear bombs, should the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) decide to violate the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
A contract was awarded to an American firm named ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) to deliver equipment and services to build the two light water reactor stations.
http://www.abb.com/global/abbzh/abbzh25 ... abase&db=/
global/ABBZH/abbzh250.nsf&v=c&e=us&c=316DCEEDCA12D32E4125686C00433604
(Sorry link won't format properly
We should probably not be surprised that Donald Rumsfeld was an executive director for ABB from 2000-2001.
Sounds like it's a case of:
We can guess how far it goes, we sold those guys the parts!
sadly, no, i don't work for a super villain. I 
