News reports are streaming out of Washington about suspected North Korean collaboration with Syria on nuclear technology.

While the U.S. government has refrained from issuing an official confirmation, the reports are creating tension ahead of further six-party talks.

Some worry that the North may return to previous hardline tactics and refuse to cooperate in the negotiations, doubting Washington`s "true intentions."

Questions were raised whether the allegations are strong enough to influence nuclear negotiations that have entered a "right path" after long periods of little or no progress.

Observers say the allegations are not likely to influence the six-party talks, at least for the time being.

"It appears that the information (of a possible Syria-N.K. link) is being leaked to the press in order to show North Korea that they (the U.S.) also have a card they can use to pressure them," Kim Tae-woo, senior researcher of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, told The Korea Herald.

"Should North Korea really be proven to have participated in proliferating nuclear programs, the repercussions will be more than what the U.S. government could handle," Kim Tae-woo said.

His concerns echoed U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates who said Sunday, the United States would have a "real problem" if Syria and North Korea are collaborating on a nuclear program.

It is a self-imposed responsibility of the United States to be intolerant of any attempt to proliferate weapons of mass destruction.

Worries over North Korea were a major reason the United States established the Proliferation Security Initiative, a global effort to eliminate the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and materials.

"The United States approaches the nuclear issue in two steps, first to disable North Korea`s nuclear programs and second to denuclearize it," Kim explained.

Washington will have several points of contention that it could use to pressure Pyongyang in the negotiations, one of them being the Syrian connection, he said.

The George W. Bush administration, which has taken a softer approach in dealing with the North the past year, has been criticized by hardliners for being manipulated by the communist regime.

Conservatives in Washington are suggesting that the United States halt negotiations with North Korea because of the suspicions of proliferation.

The United States has promised North Korea to remove the country from its list of states sponsoring terrorism and that it would not apply the Trading with the Enemy Act in return for denuclearization.

Washington hawks considered such politically significant moves "out of the question."

Syria is among the countries which the Bush administration has suspected of running clandestine nuclear weapons development programs.

The Reform Party of Syria reported in May 2004 that concerns are growing within the Bush administration of a possible clandestine program and that it may already have centrifuges, equipment needed to produce material for bombs. Questions of a possible link between North Korea and Syria were also raised.

The Reform Party of Syria is a democratic political party that supports the separation of mosque and state in Syria. Although the party is comprised of Syrians, it is based in the United States because the government bans opposition political parties which are not approved.

Syria, as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has been operating nuclear programs "for peaceful use" under the assistance of Belgium, China, Germany, and the former Soviet Union.

John Bolton, then-undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security, said on Sept. 16, 2005, "On the nuclear side we are concerned about Syria`s nuclear R&D program and continue to watch for any sign of nuclear weapons activity or foreign assistance that could facilitate Syrian nuclear weapons capability. We are aware of Syrian efforts to acquire dual-use technologies that could be applied to a nuclear weapons program."

It was also suspected that Syria purchased equipment and expertise from other "rogue" nations or individuals.

The RPS stated that Dr. Ibrahim Othman who heads the Atomic Energy Commission of Syria (AECS) was the contact man with Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. Khan is known to have delivered important secrets to "rogue" states - including North Korea.

Andrew Semmel, acting deputy assistant secretary of state for nuclear nonproliferation policy, was quoted as saying by the Washington Post last week that he "wouldn`t exclude" the possibility the so-called Khan network could have been involved. The network supplied nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea

Most recently, news reports said that North Koreans were in Syria, and that Damascus may have had contacts with "secret suppliers" to obtain nuclear equipment.

North Korea denied the reports.

South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon also said yesterday the suspicions were unsubstantiated.

Controversial information based on intelligence has often bogged down nuclear talks with North Korea in the past.

In 2002, the North was suspected of running a clandestine highly-enriched uranium program. This followed a trip by James Kelly, who visited Pyongyang as a presidential envoy.

Although never confirmed by the North publicly, such suspicions remain a key sticking point in the nuclear negotiations, and influenced the breakdown of the 1994 Agreed Framework between the United States and North Korea.



By Lee Joo-hee



(angiely@heraldm.com)