US claims over NKorea nuclear aid to Syria

Updated April 24, 2008 10:32:16

Defence Secretary Robert Gates says the public will be told 'soon' about what US intelligence has learned. [Reuters]

The United States says it will soon break its silence about what it knows on whether North Korea has shared nuclear know-how with Syria.

Our Washington correspondent, Kim Landers, reports since last September when there was an Israeli airstrike inside Syria, the United States has refused to elaborate on what it thought the target was.

But now the American media is reporting the CIA is about to tell members of Congress that Israel hit a nuclear site, possibly a reactor, being built with North Korea's help, and that North Korean workers were at the Syrian site at the time of the attack.

Asked when the public would be told about what US intelligence has picked up, Defence Secretary Robert Gates will only say "soon".

The White House spokeswoman says she can't say anything more either.