N Korea gave Libya uranium

2004-05-23 16:40

Vienna - The UN atomic agency has uncovered evidence that North Korea secretly provided Libya with nearly two tons of uranium, which can be enriched to nuclear-bomb-grade level, senior diplomats close to the agency told AFP on Sunday.

They were confirming a report in The New York Times that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has discovered that a giant cask of uranium hexafluoride (U6), which is raw material for centrifuges to enrich, had apparently come to Libya from North Korea in early 2001.

Citing unnamed US officials and European diplomats familiar with the intelligence, the Times said that the transaction, if confirmed, would be the first known case in which the North Korean government has sold a key ingredient for manufacturing atomic weapons to another country.

Nuclear black market

A senior Western diplomat, who asked not to be named, said the Vienna-based IAEA was in the middle of its investigation into this connection but "had not found explicitly the source" of the shipment.

The IAEA is "investigating where this U6 came from," said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.

Another senior Western diplomat described the Times report as "accurate."

He said the IAEA was basing its conclusion on interviews of members of the nuclear black market supply network set up by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the former head of Pakistan's main nuclear laboratory.

In a major revelation, Khan has admitted to selling nuclear technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran. The IAEA is trying to trace how Khan's network functioned.

IAEA spokesperson Mark Gwozdecky said: "Our investigation into the black market continues. The IAEA continues to conduct interiews and work with many governments on three continents."

The uranium hexafluoride was turned over to the United States by the Libyans earlier this year as part of Libya's agreement to give up its nuclear programme and the Americans had first identified Pakistan as the likely source, according to The Times.

Single nuclear weapon

The uranium shipped to Libya could not be used as nuclear fuel unless it was enriched in centrifuges, which the Libyans were constructing as part of a $100m programme to purchase equipment from the Khan network, The Times said.

If enriched, the fuel obtained by Libya could produce a single nuclear weapon, the paper said, citing unnamed experts.

But the Libyan discovery suggests that North Korea may be capable of producing far larger quantities, especially because the country maintains huge uranium mines, The Times pointed out.

"The North Koreans have been selling missiles for years to many countries," the paper quoted one senior US administration official as saying.

"Now, we have to look at their trading network in a very different context, to see if something much worse was happening as well."

- AFP