North Korea has concluded a secret deal to sell medium-range missiles and related technology to Egypt, according to a South Korean diplomatic source.
The unnamed diplomatic source was quoted by the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper as saying that "North Korea concluded the transaction secretly with Egypt earlier this year."
The Haaretz newspaper reported four months ago that Pyongyang had sold No Dong missiles and possibly manufacturing technology to Cairo.
The No Dong was developed by North Korea in the late 1980s and has a range of 1,000 kilometers.
Egypt also has Russian-made Scud missiles, but the Scud, with a range of 300 kilometers, is not capable of countering the arsenals of most of Egypt's neighbors, particularly Israel, according to the North Korean paper.
The United States has been reluctant to sell long-range missiles to Egypt because of Washington's alliance with Israel, it noted.
Egyptian authorities approached North Korea about buying the missiles after trying for years to purchase longer-range weapons from European nations and the US, the South Korean diplomatic source said – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
