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Last update - 08:36 23/02/2008 Scholar: N. Korea denies link to alleged Syria nuke facility hit by IAF By The Associated Press Tags: IAF, North Korea, nuclear  North Korea denies any involvement with a suspected nuclear facility in Syria reportedly bombed by Israel Air Force planes in September, an American researcher who met with officials in Pyongyang said. Four years after Pakistan's top nuclear scientist confessed to leaking weapons technology to North Korea, the North Koreans have denied receiving any such help, Siegfried Hecker, the Stanford University scientist who met with the officials, said. T Advertisement he North Koreans dismissed the confessions from Pakistan, saying, "That's your story," Hecker said. The North Koreans 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, some quoting unidentified U.S. officials, have said the strike hit a nuclear installation linked to North Korea. Hecker, a Stanford University professor and a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, said he questioned North Korean officials on the two issues during a trip to that country from Feb. 12-16. Hecker also visited the country's Yongbyon nuclear facility on Feb. 14. 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 programs and activities. Hecker has visited the North annually for the past five years, and last week's trip was unofficial. Nevertheless, he pressed North Korean officials, whom he would not identify, on issues of concern to the United States, he said. He told a small group of 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 U.S. officials are still awaiting North Korea's account of nuclear ties to Pakistan following Islamabad's acknowledgments years ago of the transfers, he said. In early 2004, Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's top nuclear expert, admitted that he transferred nuclear weapons technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf wrote in a memoir in late 2006 that he believed the equipment sent to North Korea included some of Pakistan's most technologically advanced nuclear centrifuges. Enriching uranium, a step toward producing nuclear fuel for weapons, requires centrifuge technology. Hecker said he told the North Koreans that "one of the reasons the Americans want a full accounting is because of those statements." "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. Asked whether the North Koreans meant they had never done so, Hecker said, "They're talking about all times: They have not done this with the Pakistanis now or in the past, meaning, have cooperated in uranium enrichment. "Since I specifically posed the question in terms of having bought the uranium centrifuges, they said, 'We have not, that's your story.'" As part of its push for a complete declaration from North Korea, the U.S. is asking it to address its suspected uranium enrichment program - an issue that touched off a nuclear standoff in late 2002. North Korea denies ever having such a program, and reiterated its denials to Hecker. 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, whose true purpose remains officially unknown. Damascus has denied having a secret atomic program. "If you look at potential connections, North Korea has the capabilities in the nuclear arena, so one at least has to consider that as a possibility," Hecker said. When he asked the North Korean officials about it, "their comment was, we don't have anything to do with Syria in the nuclear arena." An October agreement forbids North Korea to export nuclear materials and technology in the future. Asked whether the North Koreans had denied any involvement with the site bombed by the Israelis, Hecker said: "No, they were not that specific, but then I didn't ask the questions in such a fashion to try to pin them down exactly to that site. I should add that I made it very clear that that's the site I was talking about in terms of a Syrian connection." Related articles: Washington Post: Several N. Korean scientists hurt in IAF strike in Syria Report: U.S. evidence shows N. Korea gave Syria nuclear aid Syria: There are no N. Korea-Syria nuclear facilities whatsoever Inside Intel / Not a reactor - something far more vicious Bookmark to del.icio.us   Holocaust row U.K. Tory chief draws fire for calling school visits to Auschwitz a gimmick. 5 Stops in Galilee Rock hares, peach orchards, a taste of the past, and walking the Jesus trail.   1.   what "nuke facility" ? 09:32  |  whizbang 23/02/08   2.   another useful idiot 10:49  |  don 23/02/08   3.   You cannot "pin down" a North Korean. 16:53  |  Stephen. 23/02/08   4.   The facility is being rebuilt 17:04  |  Mark Lincoln 23/02/08   5.   typical scholar/intellectual gooblygook says nothing means nothin 21:20  |  ralph 23/02/08   6.   Scholar of what? you mean Coin cholar? 03:51  |  Cristo 24/02/08

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