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                      US: No Commando Spies in North Korea

   by VOA News

   U.S. military officials are rejecting a report that U.S. military
   commandos have been parachuting into North Korea to gather intelligence
   on Pyongyang's underground military installations.
   The Tokyo-based political journal [1]The Diplomat carried a report on
   Monday alleging that a senior U.S. special operations commander
   revealed the purported commando program at a conference in the
   southeastern U.S. state of Florida last week.
   U.S. Defense Department press secretary George Little told reporters
   Tuesday that the report misquoted Army Brigadier General Neil Tolley.
   "My understanding is that the general's comments were contorted,
   distorted, misreported, and that, you know, there is in no way any
   substance to the assertion," said Little. "Again, that was misreported
   that there are U.S. boots on the ground in North Korea. That is simply
   incorrect."
   Little said the United States works closely and on a daily basis with
   its allies in the region to develop information on North Korean
   intentions and capabilities.
   Colonel Jonathan Withington, a spokesperson for the United States
   Forces Korea (USFK), said Tuesday that "great liberal license" was made
   with Tolley's comments, and that some of the quotes were "made up and
   attributed to him."
   The Diplomat quoted Tolley as saying that U.S. and South Korean
   commandos were taking part in the reconnaissance mission, which it said
   is aimed at uncovering information on "thousands of tunnels" built by
   Pyongyang since the Korean War.
   Withington said it is well-known that North Korea uses tunnels to hide
   its sensitive military operations, but said "at no time" have U.S. or
   South Korean forces parachuted into North Korea to conduct special
   reconnaissance.
   The author of the report in The Diplomat, David Axe, rejected
   suggestions that he fabricated the quotes attributed to the general. He
   said that if the general was speaking hypothetically, "he did not say
   so" and that "he spoke in the present tense" and "at length."
     __________________________________________________________________

   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/us_denies_reports_commandoes_in_north
   _korea/1120928.html

References

   1. http://the-diplomat.com/flashpoints-blog/2012/05/28/u-s-commandos-spy-on-north-korea/
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/us_denies_reports_commandoes_in_north_korea/1120928.html