ILLEGAL SHIPMENTS OF AMERICAN HELICOPTERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000301610004-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 8, 2010
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: February 27, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-01070R000301610004-5
RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 [phone]
CBS Evening News STATION WDVM-TV
CBS Network
DATE February 27, 1985 7:00 P.M. CITY Washington, D.C.
Illegal Shipments of American Helicopters
DAN RATHER: U.S. Customs agents knew about illegal
shipments of American helicopters to North Korea for 16 months
without doing anything about it. So claims an internal analysis
made by the Commerce Department. This is the latest development
in the Washington game of everybody trying to-blame somebody else
for the embarrassing fact that North Korea got 87 helicopters it
never was supposed to get.
Pentagon correspondent David Martin has more about the
DAVID MARTIN: Officials are calling it the largest
illegal diversion of U.S. aircraft ever. As many as 87 of these
Hughes 500 helicopters are now in the hands of one of this
country's bitterest foes, North Korea.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE CASPAR WEINBERGER: It's a very
unfortunate result and one that we're doing our best to correct.
MARTIN: U.S. Customs agents reportedly found out about'
the illegal shipments when they began back in 1983, but no
attempt was made to stop the shipments until the Commerce
Department found out about them on its own nearly a year and a
half later.
The helicopters left their California plant destined for
West Germany. But when they reached Europe they were secretly
transferred to a Soviet ship and delivered to North Korea.
GENERAL JOHN VESSEY: The helicopters are [for,] civilian
purposes, but the same helicopter is used for military purposes.
Material suppli( Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-01070R000301610004-5 or exhibited.
 Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301610004-5
MARTIN: The U. 5 . used them in Grenada to rocket enemy
positions. Pentagon analysts say the North Koreans could use
them to infiltrate South Korea, which has 200 Hughes helicopters
of its own. Painted to look exactly like the South Korean
version, the North Korean helicopters could slip across the
border and create havoc behind the lines. As a precaution
against such an attack, sources say South Korea temporarily
grounded all its Hughes helicopters.
The helicopters were smuggled into North Korea at a time
when U.S. Intelligence has detected a major redeployment of North
Korean troops within 75 miles of the DMZ.
But the North Korean military is not invincible. CBS
News has learned that last Wednesday a North Korean submarine,
like this one, sank with all hands aboard in 350 feet of water.
A small flotilla of Soviet and North Korean ships is trying to
raise the sub, but U.S. analysts believe the crew has perished by
now.
Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301610004-5