Is North Korea Helping Syria Build a Nuclear Facility?
North Korea and Syria might seem like odd bedfellows, but the two nations have already worked together on missile technology. Now, The Washington Post reports that their cooperation might be extending to the nuclear level.
North Korea may be cooperating with Syria on some sort of nuclear facility in Syria, according to new intelligence the United States has gathered over the past six months, sources said. The evidence, said to come primarily from Israel, includes dramatic satellite imagery that led some U.S. officials to believe that the facility could be used to produce material for nuclear weapons.
Hmm. This might explain why Israel has spent some time in Syria's airspace recently. The idea of Iran having a nuclear weapon is scary enough for Israeli officials. The thought that Syria might want to develop one likely has Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sweating bullets.
The Post reports that the new information has been restricted to a special few, and many people in the intelligence community don't know anything about it. The Israelis, the Syrians and the White House aren't saying a thing about the reports. Some analysts say they doubt the two are working together.
But former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, no fan of North Korea, told the Post that, given the country's trade in missiles with Syria, it is "legitimate to ask questions about whether that cooperation extends on the nuclear side as well."
11:41 AM ET | 09-14-2007 | permalink
