WASHINGTON — The United States expressed concern on Monday over news reports that North Korea may be helping the Burmese military regime to achieve its nuclear ambitions.
“It is an issue of concern and it is an issue that we continue to focus on intensively,” the assistant secretary of state for public affairs, Philip J Crowley, told reporters at the State Department headquarters.
Although he refrained from making any comment on the alleged underground nuclear facility being developed by North Korea inside Burma, Crowley said the US was concerned about “the nature of cooperation between North Korea and Burma.”
“We do have concerns about the nature of cooperation between both Burma and North Korea, and North Korea and any other country. As the Secretary [of State Hillary Clinton] did during her recent trip, she argued quite forcefully that all countries have responsibilities regarding the UN sanctions and we are [working] hard at implementing them,” Crowley said.
“I think over time, we would like to clarify with Burma more precisely the nature of its military cooperation,” he said.
“The Secretary was encouraged that Burma said that it would abide by its responsibilities under the sanctions that were recently passed by the UN, and we will be looking to see them implement those sanctions,” Crowley said.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s National Security Council chief Thawil Pliensri has ordered intelligence officials to verify reports the Burmese military regime is building a nuclear reactor with a plan to make a nuclear bomb within five years, as reported in the English-language daily, The Bangkok Post.
But Thawil was quoted as saying that so far no evidence has been found that points to a Burmese nuclear program.
On Saturday, the Australian newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald, reported that Burma appears to be establishing nuclear facilities with help from North Korea and Russia, possibly with the intent of producing nuclear weapons.
The newspaper, citing two Burmese defectors who were interviewed in-depth over two years by Australian strategic studies analyst Desmond Ball and Thailand-based journalist Phil Thornton, claimed that Burma has secretly constructed a nuclear reactor that would encompass reprocessing technology designed to extract weapons-grade plutonium.
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Thailand investigating suspected North Korea-Myanmar nuclear link
However, Thai National Security Council chief Thawil Pliensri said a probe by national intelligence agencies has not yet found any indication that the reports were true.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vimon Kidchob said the Thai embassy in Myanmar had not found any evidence of nuclear collaboration between North Korea and Myanmar.
Ms Vimon said Bangkok believed that Myanmar would adhere to the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEANWFZ) agreement which came into force in 1997 after being signed by all members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
''I am confident that all members of the SEANWFZ are adhering to this principle,'' she said.
The United States has voiced concern over alleged clandestine military collaboration between Myanmar and North Korea in international media reports.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton conveyed Washington’s views on reported Myanmar-North Korea military cooperation to the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting in Phuket last month.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip Crowley told newspersons in Washington early today that the US was trying to find out the nature of the military cooperation between Myanmar and North Korea.
''We do have concerns about the nature of cooperation between both Burma North Korea, and any other country. I think, over time, we would like to clarify with Burma more precisely the nature of its military cooperation,'' Mr Crowley was quoted as saying.
However, Washington has been encouraged by Myanmar’s apparent collaboration with international efforts to penalise Pyongyang following North Korea's second nuclear test earlier this year.
The US official referred to the recent turning back of a North Korean ship that was reported headed towards Myanmar.
''There was this North Korean ship. There were reports that it was headed to Burma. But eventually the ship turned around, and we noted that the Burmese at the time had pledged that they would fully implement the UN sanctions,'' the US official said.
''It's hard to say whether that Burmese decision had something to do with the ship turning around, but it turned around,'' Mr Crowley told reporters.
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