US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Tuesday he
is certain North Korea had a secret uranium enrichment programme
to make bombs but stopped short of saying whether it still exists.
The alleged highly enriched uranium (HEU) project has become
a key issue as the United States and other countries press the
communist nation to honour its pledge to scrap all nuclear programmes.
"I have no doubt that North Korea has had a highly enriched
uranium programme, and that has been and continues to be the judgement
of our intelligence community," he told a news conference
here.
"We would expect that when North Korea makes its declaration
of nuclear facilities, that that would be one of the issues addressed
in North Korea's declaration."
Seoul is the final stop on the deputy secretary's Asian tour,
which is focussed on getting North Korea to abide by its commitment
made at six-nation talks on February 13.
US intelligence officials last week publicly softened their position
on the HEU programme, admitting to doubts about how much progress
had actually been made.
A 1994 deal which shut down the North's plutonium-producing reactor
collapsed after the Bush administration confronted the North about
the alleged HEU project in 2002.
Over the past five years the North is thought to have produced
enough plutonium to make several more bombs. It tested its first
nuclear weapon last October.
Under the February six-nation agreement, the North must declare
and disable all its programmes in exchange for diplomatic benefits
and economic aid equivalent to one million tons of fuel oil.
The visit by the number two US diplomat to Japan, China and South
Korea is his first official overseas trip since taking office
last month. It is part of a round of intense diplomacy aimed at
following up on the accord.
Washington's chief envoy to the nuclear talks Christopher Hill
began holding two days of meetings in New York on Monday with
his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-Gwan on ways to normalise
diplomatic relations as part of the pact.
On Wednesday Japanese and North Korean negotiators are due to
start talks in Hanoi on normalising ties.
The six-nation talks group the two Koreas, Japan, Russia, the
United States and host China.
