North Korea denies Pakistan’s assistance in nuke technology
* Assures US researcher of having no links with destroyed Syrian ‘nuclear’ site
PALO ALTO: Four years after Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan confessed to leaking weapons technology to North Korea, the North Koreans have denied receiving any such help, an American researcher said.
The North Koreans dismissed the confessions from Pakistan, saying, “That’s your story,” researcher Siegfried Hecker said.
They also told Hecker they had nothing to do with a suspected Syrian nuclear site destroyed by Israeli fighters in September, he said. News media reports have said the strike hit a nuclear installation linked to North Korea.
Hecker, a Stanford University professor, said he questioned North Korean officials on the two issues during a trip to that country from February 12 to16.
Pyongyang’s past actions are sticking points in disarmament efforts under way now, because under recent agreements, North Korea is supposed to provide a full accounting – a declaration – of its nuclear programmes and activities.
Hecker pressed North Korean officials, whom he would not identify, on issues of concern to the US, he said. He told reporters on Wednesday that he had made plain that the issue of the Syrian site destroyed in September was “high on the list of American concerns”.
And US officials are still awaiting North Korea’s account of nuclear ties to Pakistan following Islamabad’s acknowledgments years ago of the [nuclear technology] transfers, he said.
“When I bring up the Pakistan connection, they say, ‘That’s your story, we haven’t dealt with the Pakistanis on uranium enrichment,” Hecker said. As part of its push for a complete declaration from North Korea, the US is asking it to address its suspected uranium enrichment programme. North Korea denies ever having such a programme.
Earlier this week, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said North Korea’s declaration must cover both uranium enrichment and Pyongyang’s relations with Syria, to which it has been accused of providing nuclear assistance. Hecker said he believed it was possible there were North Korean connections to the site bombed in September.