"A Stockpile of North Korean Weapons Seized in Afghanistan"

[FBIS Translated Text]    

North Korea's "25 April" mark found on small arms and trench mortar ... United States says it is "rash to say North Korea is linked to the Taliban"

Kabul-P'yongyang communication confirmed and "detailed content" being tracked. Prisoners testify that "people wearing a person's badge are active"

[subheads]

The United States is known to have recently seized a cache of North

Korean-made weapons in Afghanistan and confirmed phone calls that were exchanged between P'yongyang and Kabul, the Afghan capital. this year.

The United States is also known to have secured testimonies by Taliban prisoners and Afghan residents that personnel who appeared to be North Koreans had been active in Afghanistan up to the middle of this year.

One diplomatic source in Seoul made the previously cited comments on 18 December. He also said, "The North Korean weapons seized include various types of fire arms, such as small arms like rifles, machine guns, and revolvers, and trench mortar." He added, "These weapons had a '25 April' mark on them." The 25 April mark, which is a star and other pictures within a square, is the mark used by a North Korean weapons plant. This source also cited the testimonies of many Taliban prisoners and residents from the Kandahar area that "more than 10 armed Asians with short hair cuts and who wore a badge of a person's face were active in Kandahar and other Afghan regions in the first half of this year."

The source added that the United States, in the process of tracking the Taliban's phone calls following the 11 September terrorist attacks, confirmed that phone calls had been exchanged between Kabul and P'yongyang in 2001 and that it is trying to find out the content of these calls.

The source remarked, "The United States is tracking down detailed information, which includes the timing and route of North Korean weapons exports, the agencies in P'yongyang and Kabul from which the phone calls were exchanged and the content of the phone calls, and North Korean activities in Afghanistan." He continued, "However, the United States takes the position that it is rash to assume, with the information obtained so far, that North Korea has direct links to the Taliban or Usama Bin Ladin."

Regarding this, one high-ranking government official said, "I have heard stories that North Korean-made weapons, such as ammunition were found in Afghanistan." He added, "Weapons from different countries are sold and bought in weapons markets and the Taliban forces are multi-national. When we take this into consideration, I think it is difficult to say that North Korea is linked to the Taliban or Usama Bin Laden just because its weapons or ammunition were found [in Afghanistan]." He remarked, "I have never heard that North Koreans were active in Afghanistan." Another government official noted, "We have information that for many years, North Korea has exported 20 containers of conventional weapons to Pakistan and that the bulk of these weapons have gone to the Taliban." He stressed, however, "We must have hard facts before concluding whether or not North Korea has links to the Taliban."

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