U.S. Intelligence Says North Korea Helped Syria To Build Nuclear Reactor

April 24, 2008 11:09 a.m. EST

Washington, DC (AHN) - U.S. intelligence officials will be testifying on Thursday that North Korea shared it's nuclear know-how with Syria.

According to the intelligence report, North Korea helped Syria to build a nuclear reactor but the cooperation continued even when the site was destroyed.

The officials say that the reactor that was being built would have been able to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons but was destroyed before completion.

The official confirmed that the reactor was not built to produce electricity but for military purposes.

The official said, "The reactor was put out of commission before it was loaded with nuclear fuel, before it became operational," reports AFP.

Although the official did not confirm it, it is believed that the reactor was destroyed in an Israeli air strike last September.

The Syrians have since then refused international nuclear inspectors to visit the site.

On Thursday video and photographic evidence will also be provided.

The revelation will come at a time when there has been anticipation that north Korea will be taken off an American list of state sponsors of terrorism.

A senior administrative official told the New York Times, "Making public the pictures is likely to inflame the North Koreans. And that's just what opponents of this whole arrangement want, because they think the North Koreans will stalk off."

Others in the administration, however, feels that North Koreans will be forced to explain what they were doing in Syria once the evidence is made public.