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North Korea transferred missile technology to Pakistan's key nuclear research firm, prompting the US to slap sanctions on the two bodies, the US State Department said Wednesday. The statement, issued overnight in Washington and received here Wednesday, is the first explicit accusation by Washington against Pakistan of importing missile technology from the Stalinist state. Changgwang Sinyong Corporation, a North Korean missile marketing entity, "transferred missile-related technology to KRL," deputy State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in the statement. KRL stands for A.Q.Khan Research Laboratories, a uranium enrichment plant near Islamabad considered the hub of Pakistan's nuclear program. KRL and the North Korean firm have been banned from trade with US firms under sanctions imposed March 24, but only formally announced by the US on Monday. "The United States made a determination to impose penalties on both Changgwang Sinyong Corporation and KRL as a result of this specific missile-related transfer," Reeker said. "These sanctions were for a specific missile-related transfer." He stressed that the sanctions did not pertain to "nuclear-related" activities. Numerous media reports quoting unnamed US intelligence officials since last year have alleged that Pakistan, possibly through KRL, exported nuclear technology to North Korea. The reports said North Korea had received from Pakistan designs for gas centrifuges, machinery used to make weapons-level high-grade uranium to manufacture fissile material for nuclear bombs. Reeker said the administration was unable to prove the reports. "We informed the Congress on March 12 that the administration had carefully reviewed the facts relating to the possible transfer of nuclear technology from Pakistan to North Korea, and decided that the facts do not warrant the imposition of sanctions under applicable US laws." Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported Wednesday that US satellites and spy networks detected North Korean exports of some 10 Scud B missiles to Pakistan in March. An unnamed US security official said the missiles were loaded mid-March on to a Pakistan-flagged cargo ship at a North Korean port, and entered Pakistani territory in late March. All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Quick Links   Nov 02, 2006 |
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