World

Syria's nuke facility was nearly finished, with Korean help

by PEP | April 23, 2008 at 11:46 pm

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The list of nations seeking to enter the nuclear weapons club keeps growing--and, as always, politics mades interesting bedfellows. In this case, North Korea, a long-time foe of the United States and Western countries, almost got a Syrian nuclear facility up and running.

The Bush administration is set to tell Congress today that a nuclear facility in Syria built with North Korean help was nearly complete when Israel bombed it in September, but that Pyongyang has not provided any further nuclear assistance to the hard-line Arab nation, at least at that site, U.S. officials said.

CIA Director Michael V. Hayden and other intelligence officials are expected to brief several congressional committees in closed-door sessions, breaking the administration's silence on the issue. The facility has become a major issue in six-nation negotiations to end the North's nuclear programs.