N. Korea-Syria nuke transfer questioned

Posted on : 2007-09-17 11:02 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Intelligence authorities calling scenario unlikely

Israeli and the United States reported recently that Israeli intelligence authorities have raised doubts about reports that North Korea transferred materials regarding nuclear development to Syria.

The Washington Post on September 15 reported that information regarding nuclear cooperation between the North and Syria -- known as code name Orchard by U.S. authorities -- was conveyed to the United States from Israel on September 3. The New York Times, which on September 12 first broke the story on the latest North Korea-Syria development, quoted an official at the U.S. Defense Department as saying that Israeli surveillance planes took photos of alleged nuclear facilities in Syria. The conservative U.S. cable TV network Fox News reported on September 14 that such information was obtained via Israeli intelligence authorities quoting an anonymous source, rather than via one of its surveillance planes.

According to international news reports, Israel on September 6 bombed alleged nuclear facilities in Syria, close to the Euphrates River in a border region between Syria and Turkey. The bombing occurred three days after a North Korean ship entered a Syrian port. The North Korean ship was registered as carrying cement, but Israeli intelligence authorities reportedly believed it was carrying nuclear equipment.

Washington says that it has not yet confirmed any of this information. In an interview with the Associated Press on September 14, an acting deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. State Department who asked not to be named said that Syria recently contacted a secret supplier to develop nuclear weapons, and North Korean officials appeared to be in Syria at that very time. However, the official added that it is unclear whether Syria obtained nuclear equipment through the unnamed 'secret supplier'.


Officials of the U.S. Defense Department made the Israeli intelligence reports known to the media. Due to this, some experts doubt that the Israeli strike represented joint action by Israel against Syria and the U.S. against North Korea, respectively. The 'joint action' scenario sees Israel mobilizing hard-line strategies to prevent nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, at the same time securing support from neoconservatives in the Bush administration, who are seeking to apply the brakes on the improvement of relations between the U.S. and the North. These relations have shown rapid progress in recent months, including Washington's possible removal of the North from the list of states supporting terrorism.

Indeed, experts are skeptical about the 'joint action' scenario. Bruce Riedal, a researcher at the Brookings Institution, said that the recent bombings by Israel can be connected with the targeting of chemical or biological weapons, rather than a nuclear facility. In an interview with ABC television, former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg mentioned that North Korea has the potential to sell weapons such as short-range missiles to other countries, but it is doubtful that Pyongyang has transferred its nuclear technologies to another state, such as Syria.

North Korea and Syria have both denied the reports of a technology transfer. Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal on September 13 told a Saudi Arabian media outlet that the suspicions raised are just a new strategy of the U.S. to protect Israel. According to a report by Yonhap News, Kim Myeong-gil, North Korean deputy ambassador to the U.N., on September 16 rejected the allegations as groundless.

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