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Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung on Wednesday said he had no evidence that North Korea has a secret uranium enrichment program, apparently contradicting fellow National Security Council member Kim Man-bok, the head of the National Intelligence Service. The NIS chief on Tuesday told the parliamentary Intelligence Committee behind closed doors that his agency believes North Korea does have such a program.
But Lee, in the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, said his ministry ¡°has no information¡± about such a program.
A Unification Ministry official later explained Lee had merely stressed that he has no information but had not talked about whether the North has a uranium-enrichment program or not.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Song Min-soon told reporters a country might be deemed to intend to develop a uranium-based nuclear program if it has a one-page concept plan for it. He declined to elaborate on the current level of North Korea¡¯s uranium-based nuclear program, but did not deny that the North has a uranium-enrichment program. North Korea in 2002 allegedly admitted to having such a program but later denied it.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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