Five covert commando teams were sent to the United States by North Korea in the 1990s to attack nuclear power plants and major cities, according to a declassified Defense Intelligence Agency report.
The document, which was heavily redacted, was dated Sept. 13, 2004, and was recently disclosed thorough a Freedom of Information Act request,
The Washington Free Beacon reports.
News of the report comes as the Obama administration moves to accuse North Korea of hiring hackers to breach the computer system of Sony Corp.'s Hollywood studio.
The company Wednesday
pulled its release of the movie "The Interview" from theaters in light of threats made in recent weeks. The film depicts the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
In the 1990s, North Korea was ruled by Kim's grandfather, Kim Il Sung, and his father, Kim Jong Il.
According to the DIA report, the North Korean Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, which was in charge of the military, "established five liaison offices in the early 1990s, to train and infiltrate operatives into the United States to attack nuclear power plants and major cities in case of hostilities.
"One of the driving forces behind the establishment of the units and infiltration of operatives was the slow progress in developing a multi-stage ballistic missile," the report said.
North Korea is known to have at least two long-range missiles capable of reaching the United States, the Free Beacon reports. Pyongyang also has the Taepodong-2 intercontinental ballistic missile, and the KN-08 road-mobile ICBM, which has not yet been tested for flight.
Power plants were to have been targeted for attack "in the event of hostilities between the United States and DPRK" — the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, according to the report.
The document is entitled, "Reconnaissance Bureau, North Korea," the Free Beacon reports. The bureau is part of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces and oversees an estimated 60,000 North Korean special operations commandos.
S.Y. Lee, a Department Homeland Security spokesman, declined to comment to the Free Beacon on the 2004 report — and a DIA spokesman did not respond to email queries.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.