SEOUL, Oct 16: Three hawkish generals in North Korea’s all-powerful army pushed leader Kim Jong-Il into conducting his declared nuclear test, a leading analyst said on Monday.

Other analysts also saw the hand of the 1.2 million-strong military as being behind the announcement, which shocked the world and prompted UN sanctions.

Nam Sung-Wook, a North Korea expert and professor at Korea University, identified Pak Jae-Gyong, Hyon Chol-Hae and Lee Myong-Su as the key drivers of Kim’s brinkmanship.

“The trio, accompanying Kim like shadows, were definitely behind the decision to push ahead with the nuclear test,” he said.

Nam said Pak and Hyon are deputy chiefs of the politburo of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) and Lee is its deputy operations bureau chief.

The North’s official statement announcing the test clearly showed it was designed to please the military, which under a Songun (army-first) policy gets the best of everything in the impoverished state.

“It (the test) marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defence capability,” read the statement.

Koh Yu-Hwan, another North Korean expert and professor at Dongkuk University, said ‘only a handful of people’ must have been involved in the test but admitted difficulty in pinpointing who they were.—AFP