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Wed, September 27, 2023 | 07:24
Briefs
One nuclear backpack makes Seoul sea of fire: NK residents
Posted : 2010-12-15 15:24
Updated : 2010-12-15 15:24
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North Korean soldiers and residents have mentioned the possibility that nuclear weapons may be used against South Korea amid the recent radical claims of “nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula” by the North, Open Radio for North Korea reported Tuesday.

North Korean soldiers and residents have mentioned the possibility that nuclear weapons may be used against South Korea amid the recent radical claims of “nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula” by the North, Open Radio for North Korea reported Tuesday.

Earlier, Nodong Sinmun, a mouthpiece paper of North Korea’s Workers’ Party, reported that “the betrayal of South Korea has heightened the tension between the North and South and created dark cloud of nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula.”

“We will make Seoul a sea of fire without fail if anyone invade our territory, airspace and waters even by 0.001 millimeter,” Uriminzok, the Internet site of North Korea’s Commission for Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland, also said on Nov. 28

According to the radio, an inside source of North Korea said that there are rumors spreading among North Korean residents that “Seoul could be a sea of fire when we detonate a nuclear bomb brought in a backpack and then immediately South Korea surrenders.”

A man, who participated in the military drill at the Samjiyeon Airport on Nov. 25, said an Air Force officer had also made a similar remark. “We can win with only one nuclear weapon.”

Such a remark came when several soldiers questioned during the drill, “Isn’t it problem that (fighter jets) could not be used due to lack of fuel.”

“Why do you say such a thing although you know all?” an officer said. “We don’t need good jets. Nuclear weapons are all. We can win (with nuclear weapons) when our General is with us.”

There are mixed opinions about the existence of nuclear backpacks in the North. Most of experts have the opinion that North Korea has no technology to make the nuclear weapons to the smaller size of backpack as it has yet to make the nuclear head smaller for missiles.

However, some have presumed that 48 of the 132 nuclear backpacks were lost when the Soviet Union got disbanded and several of them seemed to come into the North. As a result, they claimed that they could not rule out the possibility of the North to use the nuclear backpacks.

The nuclear backpack is officially called “special atomic demolition munitions” which commandos carry on their back to penetrate deep into the enemy’s rear area to hit air force bases, dams and other important buildings.

The backpack weighs about 30 kilograms, ranging in power fro 10 tons of TNT to 1 kiloton. The nuclear bomb, which exploded in Hiroshima, Japan, during the second World War, was equivalent to 12 kilotons of TNT in destruction power.

The radio said it has become apparent that the North could threaten a nuclear war against the South although it is hard to conclude that the North may actually use the nuclear weapons, when all the recent inside information is taken into account.



北주민들"핵배낭 하나면 서울 불바다,南 항복한다"

최근 북한이 '한반도 핵전쟁' 등 극단적인 주장을 하고 있는 가운데 북한 군인들과 주민들 사이에도 남한에 대한 핵 사용 가능성이 언급되고 있다고 대북 단파라디오 '열린북한방송'이 14일 보도했다.

이에앞서 북한 노동신문은 13일 "남한의 배반은 북한과 남한 사이의 긴장을 증대시켰고 한반도에 핵전쟁의 암운을 야기했다"고 보도했으며, 조국평화통일위원회 인터넷 사이트 우리민족끼리는 지난달 28일 "우리의 영토•영공•영해를 0.001㎜라도 침범한다면 우리는 기회를 놓치지 않고 원수들의 아성을 불바다로 만들고야 말 것"이라고 위협했었다.

이 방송에 따르면 이런 위협 속에 북한 주민들 사이에 "유사시 핵 배낭 하나만 메고 서울 가서 터뜨리면 서울은 불바다가 되며 남조선은 즉시 항복한다"는 이야기가 떠돈다고 한 북한 내부 소식통이 전했다.

또 지난달 25일 삼지연 비행장에서 전개된 군사훈련에 참가한 한 소식통은 당시 공군 지휘관도 "핵무기 하나면 우리는 이길 수 있다"는 발언을 했다고 말했다.

이 발언은 훈련 중 "연료가 부족해 (비행기 사용에) 문제가 아니냐"는 일부 병사들의 질문에 대해 답변하는 가운데 나왔다고 한다.

이 지휘관들은 "다들 알면서 왜 그런 소리를 하느냐"며 "우린 좋은 비행기는 필요 없다. 핵무기면 된다. 우린 장군님만 있으면 (핵무기로) 승리할 수 있다"고 말했다.

핵 배낭의 존재여부에 대해서는 전문가들 의견이 엇갈린다. 북한이 미사일 장착용 핵탄두까지는 아직 소형화하지 못했기 때문에 핵배낭까지 소형화할 수 있는 기술은 없을 것이라고 보는 전문가들이 다수다.

하지만 일부는 과거 소련이 해체될 때 132개의 핵배낭이 분실됐는데 그 중 48개를 찾지 못했으며 이 중 여러개가 북한으로 들어온 것으로 추정하고 있다. 따라서 북한의 핵배낭 사용 가능성을 배제할 수 없다고 주장하고 있다.

핵배낭의 공식명칭은 특수원자파괴탄으로 특공대원이 등에 지고 적의 후방에 침투, 공군기지나 댐 등 주요 건축물을 폭파하는 것을 목적으로 개발된 것이다.

핵배낭의 무게는 약 30㎏에 불과하나 그 위력은 TNT 10t에서 1㏏에 이른다고 한다. 2차 세계대전 당시 일본 히로시마에 떨어진 원자폭탄은 TNT 12㏏ 규모였다.

최근 북한 내부의 소식을 종합해보면 북한이 실제로 남한을 향해 핵을 사용할지는 단정할 수 없다고 하더라도 남한에 핵전쟁 위협을 할 수 있다는 사실은 현실로 드러나고 있다고 이 방송은 전했다.
 
miguel
wooribank
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