Washington, Oct 19: Despite Islamabad's assertion that it has no role in North Korea's clandestine nuclear programme, a senior Bush administration official has said that
Pakistan, along with some other countries, indeed supplied nuclear-weapon related equipment and technology to Pyongyang.
The senior official re-confirmed Pakistan's involvement
after President Pervez Musharraf, in a joint press conference
with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad in Islamabad
last night, rejected as "baseless" reports that Pakistan
supported North Korea's nuclear programme, The Washington Post
said today.
The paper quoted the official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, as saying that Pakistan did so "in return" for
North Korea's missiles and missile technology.
US officials said that other countries, including Russia,
were also involved though they did not say what they could
get in return from North Korea.
What these countries provided, according to US oficials,
was material that included precursor chemicals and metal
suitable for building centrifuges.
The Post said the US received evidence of uranium
enrichment efforts in North Korea as early as two years ago but
only recently decided to confront the North Korean government
about it, according to "sources in the United States and
Asia."
The secrecy of the Bush administration in revealing to
lawmakers about what it knew about the North Korean missile
programme and those who were helping Pyongyang has "strained"
President George W Bush's relations in Congress, the paper
said.
The Post said the evidence at first was "faint and
circumstantial" and it was only by August of this year the
administration officials felt the case was compelling and was
grounds for cutting off talks with North Korea.
However, the paper said, the US told the governments of
South Korea and Japan about the nuclear programmes much
earlier than previously disclosed. When Japanese prime
minister Junichiro Koizumi went to Pyongyang on September 17,
he knew of the uranium enrichment suspicions in detail but
failed to press the issue firmly in Pyongyang, it said.
The acknowledgment of long US awareness of the problem,
said The Post, contrasts with official expressions of surprise
from Asian capitals after the Bush administration disclosed
the North Korean programme this week.
According to sources in US and Asian governments, said
The Post, the only surprise was the North Korean confession.
It said according to several senators' aides, defence
secretary Donald Rumsfeld did not mention North Korea's covert
nuclear programme in a classified briefing held in a secure
chamber less than three hours before two senior administration
officials revealed the news in a press conference.
Bureau Report
