1997: Defector Claims North Korea Had Deal to Trade Missiles for Enrichment Technology

Hwang Jang-yop, a former aide to President Kim Il-sung, becomes the highest-ranking North Korean official to defect. During debriefings, he tells investigators that Pakistan and North Korea made a deal to trade No-dong missiles for uranium enrichment technology after a delegation from Khan Research Laboratories visited North Korea in the summer of 1996 (see 1996). He claims that the secret enrichment plant is based in a series of caves near the town of Kumch’ang-ni, 100 miles north of Pyongyang, and 30 miles northwest of North Korea’s nuclear reactor at Yongbyon-kun. [Levy and Scott-Clark, 2007, pp. 281] However, inspectors will later visit the location and find no technology there (see 1999).