SEOUL - North Korea has
mass-produced computers with Pentium IV processors since
2002, a Russian journalist says in a new book. The
confirmation came at a time when the United States and
North Korea are in a war of nerves over US and
international export control regulations that would ban
15 South Korean firms selected to operate in an
industrial complex in the North's city of Kaesong from
bringing in "strategic materials," including computers.
The South Korean companies said they must be
permitted to bring computers with at least Pentium IV
chips, which are essential for normal office work,
citing earlier unconfirmed reports that the North
already began to produce those kinds of computers.
"North Korea has produced computers with Pentium
IV processors since 2002, which I saw during my visit to
an electric appliance factory in Pyongyang," Olga
PMaltseva, a Vladivostok-based journalist, said in her
new book about the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il.
The Korean translation of the book, titled "A
Waltz with Kim Jong Il" was published here on Monday.
"Seven hundred workers and technicians made
14,000 Pentium IV computers in 2002," she said.
"The factory has produced tens of thousands of
computers since 1986 and half of them were exported to
Germany."
There was a similar report by the
Choson Sinbo, organ of the pro-Pyongyang General
Association of Korean Residents in Japan, in May last
year.
The newspaper reported at the time that a
North Korean electronic appliance developer has been
selling computers with Pentium IV processors in a joint
venture with China's Nanjing Panda Electronics Co since
September 2002.
South Korea's Korea
Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) confirmed the
report in August last year, citing data from its North
Korean counterpart, the International Trade Promotion
Committee.
The KOTRA said the North's
electronics firm "Achim (Morning)" and China's Nanjing
Panda have produced three types of Pentium IV computers.
The Russian author is believed to have visited
the joint venture factory.
North Korea is
classified as a "dangerous country" under the Wassenaar
Arrangement, which replaced the Cold War era's
Coordinating Committee for Export Control to Communist
Areas in 1996, and thus signatory countries cannot
export items classified as "strategic materials" to the
communist state.
The items include computers,
various metal machinery, laser equipment, high-tech
materials and electronic appliances with US-produced
parts.
South Korea is among the 33 signatory
nations.
An earlier report said the South Korean
government is studying ways for the 15 domestic
companies to use production equipment, materials and
office supplies in Kaesong without conflicts with the
U.S.
The Kaesong industrial complex, being built
by the Korea Land Corp and Hyundai Asan Corp, a South
Korea firm, is one of the most prominent symbols of
inter-Korean reconciliation set in motion by the
first-ever summit of the leaders of the two countries in
2000.
The developers are scheduled to open
Kaesong's main complex to hundreds of South Korean
manufacturers in the first half of next year.
(Asia Pulse/Yonhap)
Aug 26, 2004
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