North Korean missiles (archives)
Photo: AP
Report: Top N. Korean official leaves for visit to Syria
High-level official leaves country for an overseas trip including visit to Damascus, state media reports, amid suspicions two countries might be cooperating on secret nuclear program
A high-level North Korean official left on Saturday for an overseas trip including a visit to Syria,
the North's state media reported, amid suspicions
the two countries might be cooperating on a secret nuclear program.
The trip comes amid lingering suspicions that North Korea may be providing nuclear assistance to Syria.
Choe Thae Bok, speaker of the North's rubber-stamp parliament, will also visit Italy during the trip, the North's Korean Central News Agency said in a brief one-sentence dispatch that gave no further details.
Regional Threat
Associated Press
Pyongyang says allegations it provided Damascus with secret nuclear cooperation 'unskilled conspiracy' fabricated by hard-liners in Washington
North Korea provides missile technology to Syria, but has strongly denied accusations that it spreads its nuclear expertise beyond its borders. Syria also has denied receiving any North Korean nuclear help.
The two countries accused US officials of spreading the allegations for political reasons.
Andrew Semmel, acting US deputy assistant secretary for nuclear nonproliferation policy, said in September that North Korean personnel were in Syria, and that Damascus may have had contacts with "secret suppliers" to obtain nuclear equipment.
Last month, a high-level Syrian delegation visited Pyongyang.
North Korea, which conducted its first-ever nuclear test last October, has been compliant in international talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear program. In July, Pyongyang shut down its sole operating nuclear reactor and pledged earlier this month to disable it by year's end.
