Problems With A Nuclear Burma

Nuclear Fallout

By SIMON ROUGHNEEN
Monday, August 3, 2009

Although Burma signed an energy agreement with its Southeast Asian neighbors last week—and despite a stern warning from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—there are clear danger signs that the Burmese military government has embarked on a policy of close nuclear and military cooperation with North Korea.

The issue of military cooperation between the two rogue states has been documented for months by The Irrawaddy, including a cover story in the August issue titled “An Open Secret,” which examines the clandestine deals and negotiations between the two regimes.

It was echoed loudly in an article this weekend that quoted two Burmese defectors as claiming that the junta was preparing underground tunnels and trading uranium extracts—known as “yellowcake”—for North Korean military hardware and/ or technical expertise.

The article, based on research conducted by Professor Desmond Ball and journalist Phil Thornton, was published in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Bangkok Post on Saturday. Reporting on interviews with the defectors, the article claims that there are more than five North Koreans working at the Thabeik Kyin uranium processing plant in Burma, and that locally refined uranium from Burma was being traded to North Korea.

The junta has been browsing the nuclear bazaar since at least 2000, when science and technology minister U Thaung visited Moscow. A resulting agreement to build a low-grade research reactor, under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), initially fell through when questions arose about how the Burmese would pay for Russian assistance.

In recent years, several Burmese officials (both civilian and military) have claimed to have direct knowledge, or even first-hand experience, of a secret nuclear weapons program.

According to the defectors in this recent report, Burma’s military government began building a reactor near Maymyo in 2002 with the aim of developing a nuclear device by 2020. The reactor and some related nuclear fuel processing plants were said to be hidden underground. The expertise for this project reportedly came from North Korea, with help from Iran and possibly Pakistan.

The report adds to common fears that Burma is “going nuclear.”

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