Posted on 02/10/2004 3:58:20 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
U.S. policymakers were urged Monday to pay close attention to the "growing relationship" -- including reported nuclear links -- between the Stalinist regime in North Korea and the military junta in Burma.
Keith Luse, an Asia specialist aide to Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), said that the North Korea-Burma issue was a key area of concern to the Foreign Relations Committee chairman.
"Is North Korea providing nuclear technology to the Burma military?" he asked during a panel discussion in Washington, hosted by the Heritage Foundation.
In 2002, Yangon announced that Russia was helping it to build a 10-megawat nuclear reactor which both countries stated was for peaceful purposes.
Burmese Foreign Minister Win Aung at the time said his country wanted the facility for medical research purposes and possibly to generate nuclear power.
Hundreds of Burmese technicians have received nuclear training in Moscow, and last April regional media reported that two shiploads of Russian equipment for the reactor had arrived at a Burmese naval base.
But it was also reported later last year that Russia had pulled out of the project as Burma was unable to meet the costs involved.
"What is the construction status of Burma's nuclear reactor," Luse asked. "Is North Korea providing nuclear technology to the Burma military?"
He also asked whether North Korea was possibly selling Scud missiles to Burma.
Luse noted that China was working to end North Korea's nuclear programs, but questioned what Beijing was doing to help prevent Burma from developing a nuclear program.
China, which has been Yangon's closest ally since a military coup in 1988, has also been the junta's main weapons supplier.
Burma, also known as Myanmar, last November denied a report in a Hong Kong-based publication about possible nuclear cooperation with North Korea.
"Logically, why would Myanmar want to develop WMDs [weapons of mass destruction] when the country needs all her strength and resources in pursuing a peaceful, stable and smooth transition to a multiparty democracy and an open-market economy?" a government spokesman said in a statement.
As a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) since 1992, Burma is entitled to pursue peaceful nuclear capability, under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
Asked about Luse's remarks, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Monday he could not confirm Burma and North Korea were engaged in such activity.
He added that the Administration's views about North Korean proliferation efforts were clear and strong.
"Any attempt by Burma to acquire nuclear missile or other technologies from North Korea, or by North Korea to provide it and sell it, it would be completely contrary to the kind of evolution we want to see in that region."
This is not the first time Lugar has raised questions about Burma's nuclear ambitions.
In an op-ed column last September, the Indiana Republican said that even if the claims of peaceful research were true, "it would add an unnecessary proliferation risk to a world where terrorists are on the prowl for nuclear material."
"Most disturbing of all, Burma is renewing ties with North Korea," he wrote.
"The link-up of these two pariah states can only spell trouble. North Korea's main export is dangerous weapons technology, and there have been reports that Burma is getting missiles and other arms from Pyongyang."
Lugar called for U.S. to make Burma a priority in its relations with Asian nations, "so that we can forge a multilateral plan to turn the generals from their dangerous course."
If Yangon and Pyongyang have begun to develop clandestine ties, it comes against a background of hostility.
Burma cut diplomatic ties after North Korean agents tried to assassinate South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan during a 1983 visit to Yangon, failing in the bid but killing 21 people in a bomb blast.
Burma was targeted last year by U.S. sanctions under the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, which imposed a ban on all imports and other punitive restrictions on junta members.
The action followed the junta's treatment of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was placed in "protective custody" after a violent clash between her supporters and a pro-junta crowd.
Should be enough for Kerry & Co. The Burmese boarder is less than 100 miles from my San Sai house and you can hear the shots fired by drug trafficers every night (occasionally the bodies are still on the road in the morning). This government is the bigest meth manufacturer in the world and one of the major arms dealers. They would be glad to sell Usama anything he could afford to maintain their lifestyle.
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Do you think Burma is one of the unnamed '3' mentioned by Mansoor last night?
Hmmmmmmmmm!........ is Right!
Kind of has that smell doesn't it!
The Chindits are the only force in the jungles to 'stick-it-to' the Japs in WW2. Quite a story.
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