ROK Idle Equipment Aid to DPRK I. United States 1. Raiser just completed a three-day trip to the DPRK where he met with church and government leaders, including chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly Standing Committee Kim Yong Nam. He added that he saw signs of the DPRK opening up and urged the US, Japan and other countries to reciprocate by lifting economic sanctions. After one and a half years of surviving on 'substitute food' made of herbs, cornstalk and little flour, many people suffer chronic ulcers and diarrhea, but there is little medicine to treat them. The report added that the ROK has ordered one of the planes for use by its coast guard.
Significant deficiencies remain in the Chinese weapons program.
The Chinese almost certainly are using aggressive collection efforts to address deficiencies. The multi-agency assessment team led Robert Walpole, the CIA official in charge of strategic and nuclear issues, was overseen by an outside panel of experts headed by retired Admiral David Jeremiah. I appreciate the careful analysis by the intelligence community and the independent panel, as well as their efforts to make as much information as possible available to the public on this crucial issue. The findings of the damage assessment underscore the need to implement fully the Presidential Decision Directive I issued in February 1998 to strengthen security and protections at the U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories. Measures to protect sensitive nuclear weapons information must be constantly scrutinized, whether this information is at the National Laboratories or at other U.S. Government institutions.