TOKYO (Reuters) - Iranian experts on nuclear issues secretly visited North Korea this year, possibly to ask North Korean officials for advice on how to handle international inspectors, a Japanese newspaper said on Wednesday.
The Iranian experts made three visits to North Korea between March and May, the conservative Sankei Shimbun said, quoting what it described as "a Korean peninsula source," who was not named.
The visits "may have been intended to ask North Korea for know-how on how to act when accepting inspectors," Sankei quoted the source as saying. "Cooperation on nuclear development may also have been discussed," the source added.
Two Iranian experts stayed in North Korea for several days in March for talks with North Korean officials in charge of nuclear development, Sankei said. One expert visited in April and two experts visited in May, the newspaper added.
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans are resisting Democrats' calls for a full-blown investigation of whether intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs was inaccurate or manipulated to make the case for war.
Leading Republicans say there is no evidence of wrongdoing and no need yet for an inquiry that goes much beyond routine oversight. Democrats want a more thorough investigation in light of doubts raised about some of the intelligence and the failure so far to find weapons of mass destruction.
Both sides say they lack political motives, but the stakes could be high ahead of next year's election if President Bush's primary reason for going to war continues to be called into question.