U.S. Shows Syrian Reactor Video to South Korea

The United States on Wednesday showed South Korean officials a video clip of a purported Syrian nuclear reactor that U.S. officials said might have been built with North Korean assistance, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, Feb. 8).

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill presented the video to Kim Byung-kook, foreign and security affairs secretary for incoming South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, the Munhwa Ilbo quoted an anonymous government official as saying.

“The U.S. side also conveyed is judgment that this (Syrian) nuclear reactor has been built with North Korean nuclear technology,” the official was quoted as saying.

Hill has told South Korean officials that Pyongyang should detail what nuclear equipment it has provided to Syria in a declaration of its nuclear activities promised under a six-party denuclearization agreement.

North Korea has been suspected of providing nuclear development assistance to Syria since Israel carried out air attacks on a Syrian facility last September (see GSN, Jan 17; Kyodo News, Feb. 22).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.