| http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080205/NATION/163481673/1002
North Korea threatened to export nuclear weapons to international terrorists in 2005, according to a U.S. intelligence report made public yesterday.
The report to Congress on arms proliferation was produced in 2006 and also said al Qaeda is developing chemical and biological weapons for use in Iraq and Afghanistan and continues to seek nuclear or radiological bombs.
On Syria, the report said that the Damascus government has nuclear research facilities at Dayr, Al Hajar and Dubaya, and that U.S. intelligence agencies "continue to monitor Syrian nuclear intentions with concern."
On North Korea, the report expressed continued worries about threats from the reclusive communist regime to export nuclear arms. In April 2005, North Korea told a U.S. academic, who was not identified further, that Pyongyang "could transfer nuclear weapons to terrorists if driven into a corner," the report stated. It was the first time that the U.S. intelligence community disclosed the basis for concerns about North Korea"s supplying terrorists with nuclear arms.
The threat followed a statement from a North Korean official made during the six-party nuclear talks in April 2003 warning that Pyongyang could export nuclear weapons.
Additionally, the report disclosed that in May 2004, inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency recovered 2 tons of uranium hexafluoride from Libya thought to have originated in North Korea. The uranium gas is used in centrifuges to produce highly enriched uranium for bombs.
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