Burma’s WMD Programme And Military Cooperation With The Democratic People’s Republic Of Korea

taken more seriously. According to exclusive information I have received, one of two major Burmese munitions factories located near the small town of Minhla on the west bank of the Irrawaddy River, south of Minbu in Magway Division, and it is involved in the production of sophisticated Scudtype missiles. North Korean experts are reportedly assisting Burma’s own military technicians in the top-secret project. 75 Known as ka pa sa, shorthand for the Burmese-language initials of the Directorate of Defence Industries, the country’s weapons factories have for decades produced basic armaments for the military. But ka pa sa 2 and 10 near Minhla are now churning out more advanced weapons, including Scudtype missiles, than the country has to date. These are more difficult to detect from the air because they are located partly underground.

A Scud-armed Burma would place its capabilities a significant notch above its Southeast Asian neighbours, which do not possess such long-range missiles. The revelations could spark a regional arms race, prompting neighbouring countries such as Thailand to develop or procure their own missile arsenal.

The existence of the two factories was outlined in an August 27, 2004 United States embassy cable from Rangoon, which was made public by WikiLeaks late last year. One of the US Embassy’s sources claimed that North Korean workers were assembling surface-to-air missiles at “a military site in Magway Division” where a “concrete-reinforced underground facility” was also under construction. The source told the embassy that “he had seen a large barge carrying a reinforced steel bar of a diameter that