By DPA,
Brussels : The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said Wednesday he hoped his agency could soon shed light on an alleged nuclear reactor which the US claims was secretly built by Syria with North Korean help before being destroyed by Israel.
“We are now in dialogue with the Syrians … I hope we will be able in the next few weeks to be in a position to shed some light on the nature of the facility that was destroyed,” said Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), during a visit to Brussels.
The US have charged North Korea with helping Syria to build a secret nuclear reactor similar to its facilities at Yongbyon and said Syria has broken its international obligations by hiding the facility from the UN nuclear watchdog.
ElBaradei said Wednesday that Syria would have been obliged to notify his agency of the building of such a facility. Adding that he did not “yet know” whether the US claims were founded, he also reiterated his “regret” at the fact that the IAEA had not been given the opportunity to inspect the site before it was bombed by Israeli airstrikes Sep 6 last year.
The head of the IAEA was speaking after talks in Brussels with EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The meeting saw the two officials sign an agreement designed to reinforce mutual cooperation on nuclear energy.