Free Republic

GENEVA (AP) — A Swiss man suspected of being involved in the world's biggest nuclear smuggling ring claims he supplied the CIA with information that led to the breakup of the black market nuclear network led by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. In a documentary airing Thursday on Swiss TV station SF1, Urs Tinner says he tipped off U.S. intelligence about a delivery of centrifuge parts meant for Libya's nuclear weapons program. The shipment was seized at the Italian port of Taranto in 2003, forcing Libya to admit and eventually renounce its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. The 43-year-old Tinner...

U.S. scientists have discovered traces of enriched uranium on smelted aluminum tubing provided by North Korea, apparently contradicting Pyongyang's denial that it had a clandestine nuclear program, according to U.S. and diplomatic sources. The United States has long pointed to North Korea's acquisition of thousands of aluminum tubes as evidence of such a program, saying the tubes could be used as the outer casing for centrifuges needed to spin hot uranium gas into the fuel for nuclear weapons. North Korea has denied that contention and, as part of a declaration on its nuclear programs due by the end of the...

"How the White House Used Disputed Arms Intelligence" NYT 10/3/04

Hours after the withdrawal of charges against Gauteng businessman Johan Meyer for contravening laws governing weapons of mass destruction and nuclear energy, Durban police swooped on a luxury penthouse on the beachfront and arrested a German-born engineer on similar charges. Police then chartered a special flight to whisk him to Johannesburg on Wednesday night. The 65-year-old engineer is also facing similar charges in Germany and was arrested a forthnight ago. While Durban detectives were making the arrest on the beachfront, detectives arrested another suspect in Sandton. Spokesperson for the police national commissioner Director Sally de Beer on Thursday confirmed the...

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HAMBURG, Germany (AFP) - A former North Korean diplomat is accused of ordering material from a German firm that could be used in the production of nuclear weapons, Germany's Der Spiegel reported in its Monday edition. The news magazine said a German businessman would go on trial in Stuttgart, southwest Germany, next month in connection with the case. The diplomat was named by Spiegel as Yun Ho Jin. It said he used to work as a Pyongyang representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. According to Der Spiegel, Yun Ho Jin ordered special aluminium tubes from...