Pakistan provided nuclear technology to N. Korea: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- Pakistan has provided nuclear technology to North
Korea to help the reclusive communist state build a uranium-based nuclear
program, the U.S. State Department said Monday.
The uranium program, apart from the plutonium-based nuclear reactor being
sanctioned under a multilateral nuclear deal, grew from a "one stop shopping"
source provided by Pakistan's A.Q. Khan, the department said.
Iran and Libya also benefited from the network, the department said in a
statement to announce the list of 13 individuals and private companies, mostly
British, German, Turkish, Swiss and Sri Lankan nationals, being sanctioned for
their involvement in the Khan network.
"With the assistance of Khan's network, countries could leapfrog the slow,
incremental stages of other nuclear weapons development programs," it said.
The department said Khan and his associates provided centrifuge designs, equipment
and technology to North Korea.
Khan has been under house arrest since 2004, when he confessed to secret dealings
with North Korea and several other countries, but he recently disavowed his
previous remarks.
"Many of Dr. Khan's associates are either in custody, being prosecuted, or have
been convicted of crimes," the department said. "While we believe the A.Q. Khan
network is no longer operating, countries should remain vigilant to ensure that
Khan network associates, or others seeking to pursue similar proliferation
activities, will not become a future source for sensitive nuclear information or
equipment."
The announcement coincided with outgoing President George W. Bush's concession at
his final news conference earlier in the day that "there might be a highly
enriched uranium program" in North Korea.
Word of such a program surfaced in 2002, but North Korea has denied it.
North Korea???s plutonium program has been the focus of the six-party talks
involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
Those talks resulted in a series of agreements that outlined steps for the
eventual dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, north of
Pyongyang, in return for economic assistance.
As the clock ticks down on the Bush administration, however, North Korea has
refused to agree to inspections that would verify its compliance.
That has invited criticism that Bush???s team made too many concessions regarding
the plutonium program and failed to address the parallel issues of uranium
production and weapons proliferation.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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