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Pyongyang's missile program
NORTH KOREA (CNN) -- North Korea is currently believed to be a producer of two types of Scud missiles. Jane's Defense Weekly describes these as the Scud-B, which has a range of 300 kilometers (200 miles) carrying a 1,000 pound (450 kilogram) payload, and a variant of the Scud-C missile, which can travel 500 kilometers carrying 700 pounds. The Changgwang Sinyong Corporation in North Korea is the marketing arm for Pyongyang's missile export program, along with the North Korean government. Exporting missiles is one of the few sources of hard currency for North Korea and Yemen has been one of its customers in the past. Earlier this year, the U.S.imposed sanctions on North Korea for selling scud components to Yemen. Those sales occurred during the Clinton administration. Washington raised its concerns over this trade with Yemen, which then indicated that it did not plan to buy any more missile technology from North Korea, U.S. officials told the New York Times. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has also admitted that Pyongyang sells missile technology to other nations, admitting to South Korean media in 2000 that Syria, Iran and Libya have been buyers. During Iran's war with Iraq, North Korea provided Iran with about 100 Scud-B ballistic missiles, according to Jane's Defense Weekly. In 1998, North Korea shocked Japan and other neighbors when it test fired a missile that flew over Japan's main island of Honshu. Pyongyang later said it would not carry out further tests until 2003 at the earliest.
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