How significant is it that Kim Jong-il has agreed to destroy his nuclear facilities in a place called Yongbyon? According to a man that knew him well – not very.
According to Hwang Jang-yop, the highest-ranking defector in North Korean history – a man who was once Kim Jong-il’s teacher and the former Chairman of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly, the cooling tower and facilities that the North destroyed was “junk,” but nevertheless, the Dear Leader wouldn’t have the nerve to use a nuke in the first place.
“The Yongbyon nuclear complex is an obsolete piece of junk … But the Yongbyon nuclear reactor has already produced enough plutonium to make nuclear weapons. Indeed, it has already produced all the [nuclear weapons] it needs.”
“Kim Jong-il is a selfish coward. He would absolutely never use nuclear weapons because he knows that if he did, he would lose his life.”
July 1, 2008
South Korea – The Daily North Korea – Original Article (English)
Commenting on North Korea’s nuclear reactor demolition show on June 27, Hwang Jang-yop, President of the Committee for the Democratization of North Korea, has called the cooling tower and nuclear complex which Kim Jong-il used in his talks with the U.S. “junk.”
[Editor’s Note: A former professor of Kim Jong-il at Kim Il-sung University and Chairman of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly, Hwang Jang-yop defected in 1997, became the highest-ranking defector in the history of North Korea.]
On his Free North Korea Radio program, Lectures By Hwang Jang-yop on June 30, Chairman Hwang said, “The Yongbyon nuclear complex is an obsolete piece of junk.”
Right after the Agreement was signed at the Six Party Talks on February 13, 2007, Hwang said, “When North Korea discusses it’s willingness to freeze its nuclear facilities, it only talks of Yongbyon.” He said, “But the Yongbyon nuclear reactor has already produced enough plutonium to make nuclear weapons. Indeed, it has already produced all the [nuclear weapons] it needs.
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