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SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A spate of reports that North
Technology Korea may be helping fellow pariah state Myanmar
join the nuclear club has underlined concerns over
Entertainment Pyongyang's proliferation activities since it renounced
Sports disarmament talks and tested a bomb.

Lifestyle U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton highlighted the

issue at a regional security meeting in Thailand last
Oddly Enough
month, saying she was worried about possible
Health nuclear transfers to Myanmar -- though stopping
1 of 1 Full Size short of saying any had taken place. Indian
Science authorities have detained a North Korean ship and
Special Coverage Featured Broker sponsored are searching it for radioactive material, the first case
link of a ship being detained and searched under U.N.
Video sanctions adopted in June following North Korea's
Pictures atomic test the month before.

Your View The MV Mu San dropped anchor off the Andaman

islands last Wednesday without permission and was
The Great Debate detained by the coastguard after a chase lasting
Blogs several hours. Indian officials said they were trying to determine if Myanmar had been on MOST POPULAR ON REUTERS
its route.
Weather Articles Video
"With increasing reports of North Korea helping Myanmar build a nuclear reactor, any vessel 1. Auto inventories tight, U.S.
Reader Feedback "clunker" interest slips
floating in Indian waters without a possible reason will be checked and India is rightly
concerned," said Naresh Chandra, a former envoy to Washington. 2. Costa Rican president has
swine flu
A nuclear-armed Myanmar, which lies between Asia's two nuclear powers India and China,
poses a major proliferation risk in the region, particularly among its Southeast Asian 3. Russia sees U.S. space
neighbors, who have proclaimed the region a nuclear weapons-free zone. threat, builds new rocket
4. Frustrated Russian throws cup at Mona Lisa
SECRET NUCLEAR PLANT
5. Bride spends first night with crate of vodka
The Sydney Morning Herald reported recently that North Korea is helping Myanmar build a 6. U.S. economy has bottomed: George Soros
secret nuclear reactor and plutonium extraction plant in a drive to build an atomic bomb by
2014. 7. GE sees tide coming in for water business
8. Bank of America faces more bonus
The "secret plant" is supposedly hidden inside a mountain at Naung Laing in northern embarrassment
Do More With Reuters Myanmar and runs parallel to a research reactor that Russia has agreed to help build at
another site, the Herald said, citing evidence from defectors. 9. Rapper C-Murder convicted for 2002 shooting
RSS
10. Democrats release papers on Bush prosecutor
Widgets The research reactor, groundbreaking for which is scheduled in January, has not yet come firings
under the inspection regime of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Mobile
Podcasts The agency asked the former Burma two years ago to host an IAEA team, following initial Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
reports of its reactor deal with Russia, one knowledgeable official said, but the junta has yet
Newsletters
to respond.
Your View
Make Reuters My One of the defectors in the Herald's report, a former army officer, told Australian National
Homepage University professor Desmond Ball that he was trained in a 1,000-man "nuclear battalion"
and Myanmar had provided yellowcake uranium to North Korea and Iran.
Partner Services
The defectors also said North Korean had helped build tunnels that could be used to hide
CareerBuilder
secret nuclear facilities. Some analysts believe, however, that the junta, which has
Affiliate Network expressed fears of a U.S. attack, could be building tunnels as elaborate air raid shelters.
Professional Products Trevor Wilson, a former Australian ambassador to Myanmar now at Australian National
Support (Customer Zone) University, says he is skeptical about the Herald report, noting defectors are notoriously
Reuters Media unreliable.
Financial Products "I wasn't entirely convinced the evidence they were citing was pointing to a nuclear
weapons program. It could have been a nuclear power program," he told Reuters.
About Thomson Reuters
"There's plenty of evidence of a military relationship and also a suggestion over a long
period that the Burmese army is interested in acquiring missiles from a country like North
Korea, but not necessarily a nuclear-armed missile." Continued...

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HOME Is Myanmar joining nuclear club with North Korea EDITOR'S CHOICE
BUSINESS & FINANCE aid? A selection of our best
NEWS Tue Aug 11, 2009 5:27am EDT photos from the past 24
U.S. hours. Slideshow
Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page [-] Text [+]
Swine Flu

Politics Myanmar broke diplomatic relations with North Korea

International in 1983 after North Korean agents attempted to
assassinate the visiting South Korean prime minister,
Technology but ties were restored in 2007.
Entertainment Wilson said that while Myanmar has known reserves
Sports of uranium, no evidence had emerged it has been
refining it into "yellowcake or anything else for that
Lifestyle matter".
Oddly Enough
He said it was possible Myanmar was bartering
Health uranium ore for conventional weapons, maybe even
1 of 1 Full Size missile parts or technology.
Science
Special Coverage Featured Broker sponsored NORTH KOREA MARKETING

Video
link Days before Clinton spoke in Thailand, a U.S.
destroyer tailed a North Korean cargo ship, the Kang
Pictures Nam I, believed to be taking small arms to Myanmar,
Your View forcing it eventually to turn around and go home.

The Great Debate Weapons exports are a key source of revenue for
North Korea's ramshackle economy. Its May nuclear test may have been as much a MOST POPULAR ON REUTERS
Blogs
marketing ploy to pique the interest of potential rogue buyers as a move in its geopolitical
Weather chess game. Articles Video
1. Auto inventories tight, U.S.
Reader Feedback In 2007, Israeli jets destroyed a nuclear reactor the North Koreans had helped to build. Iran "clunker" interest slips
has used North Korean technology in some of its missiles, and analysts fear Pyongyang
2. Costa Rican president has
could help Tehran develop nuclear weapons.
swine flu
Some analysts say the threat of a nuclear deterrent may be just what the military regime in 3. Russia sees U.S. space
impoverished and isolated Myanmar is really after. threat, builds new rocket

Wilson does not buy that. 4. Frustrated Russian throws cup at Mona Lisa
5. Bride spends first night with crate of vodka
North Korea actually faces a nuclear threat from the United States in North Asia. Myanmar
does not. 6. U.S. economy has bottomed: George Soros
7. GE sees tide coming in for water business
"Why would the Burmese army want to acquire nuclear weapons for national security? It
would actually make them a target. It wouldn't help them with any threats they face, which 8. Bank of America faces more bonus
are all of a conventional nature." (Editing by John Chalmers) embarrassment
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