North Korea accused of helping Syria build nuclear reactor
Updated
The United States has publicly accused North Korea of helping Syria build a secret nuclear reactor that could produce plutonium.
Presenter: Tom Fayle
Speaker: Scott Bruce, Nautilus Institute for security and sustainability in the United States.
BRUCE: Well at this point in time Christopher Hill is making a hard sell to the US Congress of a declaration of North Korea's nuclear activity.
Under a February 2007 agreement North Korea was required to disclose its nuclear programs, including its ties to Syria. The US and North Korea have been wrangling over this agreement for many months, and after a recent meeting in Singapore the compromise was that the United States, not North Korea would note its concerns over the North's ties to Syria and North Korea will have the courtesy to acknowledge those concerns.
Now if you're a member of the US Congress and you're expecting North Korea to come clean over its nuclear programs this is not exactly what you had in mind. So while Christopher Hill is making this hard sell on the deal reached in Singapore you have these concerns coming to light that really undercuts his attempts to get Congress to buy into that agreement.
FAYLE: The administration or at least elements of the administration are talking tough, but then is this more about North Korea or Syria?
BRUCE: Well in the beginning in September of 2007 I think this agreement wasn't about either North Korea or Syria, it was actually about sending a clear message to Iran. At this point in time however all eyes are very much on North Korea as this deal reaches a crucial point.
The United States is very much in conflict with itself over what's going to happen next. There are hardliners in the American government who believe that this indicates that there is no deal with North Korea that can be made that's worth the paper it's written on.
Then at the same time there is a little more pragmatic perspective that says that North Korea is much less likely to sell its nuclear knowledge and technology if it is being monitored and verified by the international community, and in an agreement with its neighbours over its nuclear arsenal then if that agreement was dissolved then all bets were off.
FAYLE: If we assume that these allegations that the US is making are correct, what is North Korea's motivation for getting involved?
BRUCE: Firstly economic, North Korea and Syria have a well established trade in missile technology, but the North is in very desperate economic situation right now and it is likely that if this agreement happened it was for economic reasons with the North attempting to support its economy through the transfer of nuclear technology or information.
FAYLE: And what about the impact of these allegations of this North Korean-Syrian nuclear connection on the six-party talks. I understand that the US administration, the White House is saying that they're going to take up these allegations at that forum?
BRUCE: Yes, the United States is at this point very committed to producing some success from the six-party talks process, and has indicated that it intends to carry forward with the talks to attempt to reach a discussion and negotiations over the North's nuclear arsenal rather than call it off.
However there are increasingly vocal voices in the US Congress that say that this is the reason why those talks should be cut off now. So it remains to be seen if this will put more pressure on the North to come clean about its programs, or if this will cause the United States to withdraw from the six-party talks process.
The New York Times this morning suggested that the ambassador to the six-party talks, Christopher Hill, may be resigning soon, which would indicate a dramatic departure from the established policy.
FAYLE: This whole idea of North Koreans coming clean, there are already voices coming out of the political establishment in Washington saying that this should be, the Syrian connection should be another condition that North Korea has to fulfill before it's taken off America's list of terrorist states?
BRUCE: Well the agreement in Singapore was that the best the United States could hope for was that it would note its concerns about it. North Korea would have the courtesy not to refute those concerns, and the United States would begin the process of delisting North Korea from the list of terror-sponsoring nations.
Now it appears that that's going to be a much harder prospect with Congress getting increasingly concerned about what the extent of this relationship will be. There might be more significant calls now for the North to acknowledge this relationship with Syria itself rather than just not refute the United States' allegations of its existence.
