By DPA
Washington : The North Korean regime is offering evidence that it was not pursuing a uranium enrichment programme, the Washington Post reported Saturday, citing unnamed US and South Korean officials.
North Korea is in secret talks with Washington and Seoul and has provided what it says is evidence refuting the alleged uranium enrichment.
“They have shown us some things, and we are working it through, “the Post quoted a senior US official said. “We are having a discussion about things. Some explanations make sense; some are a bit of a stretch.”
Pyongyang is to fully reveal its nuclear programmes by the end of the year. Towards that end, the reclusive communist regime has made available equipment and papers, the Post reported.
If successful, the North Koreans would be refuting US intelligence findings in 2002 that the regime was pursing large-scale uranium enrichment, in violation of a 1994 agreement with the US.
The 2002 allegations scuttled that deal, after which North Korea expelled international inspectors and resumed plutonium production in a previously built, mothballed nuclear reactor. In 2006, Pyongyang tested a nuclear weapon.