Khan’s N Korea nuke-link older than believed

Information obtained from accused Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan suggests North Korea began to pursue a highly enriched uranium programme for nuclear weapons several years earlier than originally thought, US officials said on Friday.

US allegations about an HEU programme are central to six-party talks on N Korea’s nuclear programme and US officials said they have used Khan’s information to buttress their case with their negotiating partners. But officials also said that five weeks after Khan confessed his deeds, the US still has not had direct access to the disgraced scientist. One of Khan’s recent revelations is that he began working

with Pyongyang on an HEU programme around 1991, not in the mid-1990s as officials had believed, two US officials said. Khan supplied the North ‘‘with equipment for centrifuges for over a decade ending in 2001,’’ one senior official said. He declined to say if Khan provided documentary proof.

Another official said that just when Khan supplied actual centrifuges to Pyongyang remains unclear but there was ‘‘information exchange’’ and discussions about the ‘‘parameters of cooperation’’ on an HEU programme as far back as 1991. ‘‘It does suggest that the cooperation was somewhat earlier, that North Korea began HEU at an earlier date than might have been thought before,’’ he said. —(Reuters)