Global Security Newswire

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, speaks earlier this month with Burmese prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, Myanmar. The International Atomic Energy Agency is seeking access to locations in Myanmar following allegations that the Southeast Asian state was pursuing nuclear weapons activities, a diplomat said (AP Photo/Saul Loeb).

The International Atomic Energy Agency is pressing for entry to facilities in Myanmar following a dissident group's 2010 assertion that the Southeast Asian state was pursuing a nuclear weapons capability, Reuters on Thursday quoted an informed envoy as saying (see GSN, Dec. 12).

The Vienna, Austria-based organization last year said it was investigating the contents of a paper by the Democratic Voice of Burma, which said Myanmar had undertaken a clandestine bid to establish a nuclear weapons production infrastructure (see GSN, June 8, 2010). The  organization's contention, based on materials smuggled out of the country by former Burmese military officer Sai Thein Win, echoed prior charges by other former inhabitants of the country.

Myanmar has consistently denied having nuclear-weapon ambitions. Tin Win, Myanmar's ambassador to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, in September said his nation lacked the "economic strength" to produce nuclear weapons (see GSN, Sept. 22).

Sources with Myanmar's government during a September meeting said IAEA officials might travel to their nation. The country previously joined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the U.N. agency, and it recently began an overhaul of its governing structure following years of oversight by a cadre of armed forces officials.

The talks on the margins of a meeting of IAEA nations prompted optimism that officials might move toward addressing concerns over Myanmar's possible nuclear activities, the envoy told Reuters. The diplomat did not specify which Burmese locations were of interest to the agency.

Specialists generally consider Myanmar to be far from achieving any significant atomic milestone, according to Reuters. U.S. government sources have minimized concerns that Myanmar's collaboration with North Korea includes atomic elements, and Naypyidaw says it has not worked with Pyongyang on atomic systems.

Statements by Burmese dissidents and the opposition organization that Myanmar "had or has a nuclear weapons research program remain unsubstantiated and poorly evidenced," the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington said last week. Still, "the international community must remain steadfast in its calls on (Myanmar) to fully commit to nuclear nonproliferation objectives and allow full verification of those commitments," it added.

The state "should answer any questions the IAEA has about its nuclear activities and illicit procurement efforts relating to sensitive equipment potentially related to nuclear applications," detail any previous transactions with North Korea, and justify its ongoing efforts to educate new atomic and missile experts in Russia, according to an ISIS analysis (Fredrik Dahl, Reuters, Dec. 15).