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NORK high official to visit Syria
A high-level North Korean official left on Saturday for an overseas trip including a visit to Syria, the North's state media reported, amid suspicions the two countries might be cooperating on a secret nuclear program.Choe Thae Bok, speaker of the North's rubber-stamp parliament, will also visit Italy during the trip, the North's Korean Central News Agency said in a brief one-sentence dispatch that gave no further details. The trip comes amid lingering suspicions that North Korea may be providing nuclear assistance to Syria. North Korea provides missile technology to Syria, but has strongly denied accusations that it spreads its nuclear expertise beyond its borders. Syria also has denied receiving any North Korean nuclear help. The two countries accused U.S. officials of spreading the allegations for political reasons. Andrew Semmel, acting U.S. deputy assistant secretary for nuclear nonproliferation policy, said in September that North Korean personnel were in Syria, and that the Syrian government may have had contacts with "secret suppliers" to obtain nuclear equipment. Last month, a high-level Syrian delegation visited Pyongyang. North Korea, which conducted its first-ever nuclear test last October, has been compliant in international talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear program. In July, Pyongyang shut down its sole operating nuclear reactor and pledged earlier this month to disable it by year's end.
Posted by: lotp 2007-10-14 |
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