US concerned over Myanmar's military ties with N Korea
The United States yesterday voiced concern over Myanmar's "growing military ties" with North Korea amid allegations the junta was working with Pyongyang to develop nuclear weapons.
The US administration was closely monitoring Myanmar's cooperation with North Korea in light of UN Security Council resolutions banning Pyongyang from exporting weapons or nuclear technology, Defense Secretary Robert Gates' press secretary said.
"We are concerned with growing military ties with the DPRK (North Korea) and are following it closely to ensure that the multiple UNSCRs (UN Security Council resolutions) are enforced," press secretary Geoff Morrell told AFP in an email.
Morrell did not comment directly on fresh allegations that Myanmar had enlisted North Korea's help to develop a nuclear programme.
But a prominent US senator, Democrat Jim Webb, abruptly cancelled a trip to military-ruled Myanmar on Thursday citing the reports.
Webb had been due to hold talks with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the country's reclusive military junta.
US officials have long voiced worries about the cash-strapped regime in North Korea selling nuclear weapons and technology or missile parts abroad.
Washington previously accused North Korea of helping Syria build a plutonium atomic reactor, which was bombed in an Israeli strike.
Previous details of possible links between nuclear-armed North Korea and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, have prompted concern in Washington, even though it has pursued a new policy of engagement with the junta.
"News reports published today contain new allegations regarding the possibility that the Burmese government has been working in conjunction with North Korea in order to develop a nuclear programme," Webb said in Bangkok.
The senator told journalists that a documentary, to be aired by news network Al Jazeera on Friday, contained claims by a former Myanmar military officer reported to have "hundreds of files" revealing the junta's nuclear ambitions.
The major reportedly has defected and says he was a deputy commander of a clandestine military factory that was the headquarters of Myanmar's nuclear battalion.
Webb also referred to an allegation by US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell last month, on his way out of Myanmar, that the junta had violated a UN ban on North Korean arms exports.
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