US officials find Korean factor in Syrian reactor · Issue 867, by Oliver Lewis

North Korea stands accused of assisting Syria in building a nuclear reactor.

Despite Syria’s repeated denial of the claims, several reports are surfacing from US officials concerning a possible nuclear connection between the two countries.

The alleged findings from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) include a video, which supposedly documents North Korean nationals present in a Syrian reactor complex.

Concerns have also been raised by claims that Syrian reactors bear striking similarities to their North Korean counterparts, providing possible proof of the “nuclear connection”.

The reports into the issue remain undisclosed and the White House has refused to comment on the story, which was leaked to the Washington Post recently.

Secretary of Defence Robert Gates commented that information would be available “soon”, but did not provide any further details.

Republican Congressman Pete Hoekstra, who attended the briefing where the CIA presented evidence to Congress, said there was “a serious proliferation issue, both for the Middle East and the countries that may be involved in Asia”.

In the past, Syria’s UN ambassador Bashar Jaafari has denied the trade of nuclear technology.

He said: “There was no Syria-North Korea co-operation whatsoever in Syria. We deny these rumours.”

The emergence of the story comes at the end of a two-day meeting regarding North Korea’s overdue publication of all its nuclear activity to the international community.

However, North Korea has recently shown signs of co-operation with the international community; the precursor to this meeting in February last year was a notable landmark as the country promised to divulge the full extent of its nuclear programme and close its main reactor.

The US has subsequently accused Pyongyang of missing the deadline.

However, the Yongbyon nuclear reactor is reportedly being slowly moved towards decommissioning.