NKorea-Burma relations could be nuclear: Clinton

Updated July 24, 2009 12:16:09
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned that North Korea may be transferring nuclear technology to ASEAN member, Burma.

At the ASEAN Regional Forum in Phuket, Mrs Clinton referred to concerns about cooperation between North Korea and Burma in the pursuit of offensive weapons, including perhaps nuclear weapons.
WALSH: There are suspicions but there is not hard convincing evidence. Burma has been interested in a nuclear program for some time now, has not had good relations with North Korea, didn't have good relations in the 80s and in the 1990s, but beginning in the 2000 started to have backroom conversations with North Korea, military-to-military contact, and in the meantime Burma tried to get a nuclear reactor, a small nuclear reactor from Russia, that's where the focus of their activity had been. So yes they're interested in nuclear technology, yes North Korea has sold nuclear technology, so that's why there's a suspicion, but we haven't seen any firm evidence yet.

LAM: And of course I think it's the first time that it's been voiced in public by a senior American official, but has the US been monitoring this issue?

WALSH: Yes absolutely, if you go back to 2000-2002, that is when Burma first indicated it had an interest in acquiring nuclear technology. They said they wanted a small research reactor from Russia in order to make medical isotopes, which seemed like an odd thing to be getting engaged in for a country of Burma's profile. The Russians first said yes then said no, and then it sort of drifted for a while, but periodically there have been pronouncements by Burma that it was interested in in technology and officials who have visited the country, former ambassadors say that Burma wants nuclear technology and perhaps even the bomb, but at least nuclear technology because of the prestige, because it would be able to show that it could stand up to outside powers, again something that North Korea has some experience with. They're both countries that are in a corner, both countries don't have many friends, so you can imagine a marriage of convenience but a suspicion and a fact are two different things. So what we're waiting on is to see any real evidence of a transfer.

LAM: Indeed like North Korea Burma can barely feed its people, so why would it be interested in nuclear technology?

WALSH: Well I think if you look at the history of the nuclear age there are some countries that want nuclear technology because they want it for defensive purposes, they feel threatened. But many want nuclear technology out of prestige, a desire for international status in order that other countries will respect you. And particularly if you're a country or a government that does not have a lot of internal legitimacy, and you don't have a lot of international legitimacy, some leaders think that nuclear technology is a way to compensate for that, to appear modern, to appear advanced and to gain some political weight. Now I think there's real reasons to doubt that equation, to doubt that nuclear technology provides that, but it is not uncommon in the nuclear age for some leaders to believe that's the case.

LAM: And Jim Walsh what about China, would China be concerned if Burma were being helped by North Korea given Beijing's close relationship with Pyongyang?

WALSH: Yes I think absolutely China would be concerned, other countries in the region would be concerned, India would be concerned, Russia seems to have been less concerned but they might pay more attention now. If you look at Burma's statement during that controversy involving the ship that everyone was following when it was heading towards Burma, the Burmese government issued a statement telling the ship to go away at one point. And it sure didn't sound like it was coming from a friend of North Korea. I think it bears watching but I think at most this is a marriage of convenience and Burma would just as easily wash its hands of North Korea if it sees that that's in its interests to do so.

LAM: Indeed so there is a huge question mark over how close the relationship is between North Korea and Burma?

WALSH: Well I think they have common interests, that is to say they're both states that are under international opprobrium. But that only gets you so far in a relationship the fact that everyone else doesn't like you very much. They both have their own national interests that they have to depend on others to achieve, and so they're going to manage their relations very carefully. It's not going to help Burma if the world thinks it's in the pocket of North Korea and that's just going to bring it more problems. So I think both countries will walk that line in a very careful way.http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/200907/s2635444.htm