World Apr. 26, 2008 - 05:42AM JST ( 11 )

VIENNA —

The U.N. atomic watchdog agency said Friday it would probe U.S. intelligence allegations that Syria was building a secret nuclear reactor with North Korea’s help.

But Syrian ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha told reporters in Washington that the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “is already cooperating with Syria. We have excellent relations ... They have never ever complained to us about anything.”

“We are not involved with North Korea in any illegal or internationally banned activities,” he added. “Syria does not have a plan or a project to acquire nuclear technology even for peaceful purposes.”

At the United Nations, Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari concurred: “We have close cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We are not afraid of this cooperation, on the contrary,” he told reporters.

“Syria has nothing to hide,” he added. “IAEA inspectors should go into Israel instead. The real danger is the Israeli nuclear arsenal.”

There was no immediate reaction from Pyongyang.

Earlier, the IAEA said it received U.S. information claiming that the facility destroyed by Israel in Syria last September was a nuclear reactor, and noted in a statement that it “will investigate the veracity of the information.”

“Syria has an obligation under its safeguards agreement with the IAEA to report the planning and construction of any nuclear facility,” it added.

On Thursday, the United States accused Syria of building a secret nuclear reactor with Pyongyang’s help, charging that the facility had a military purpose until Israel destroyed it in a September raid.

The IAEA chided both Israel and the United States for their handling of the matter.

It criticized Israel for acting on the allegations and bombing the purported reactor in a raid last September without giving IAEA inspectors an opportunity to investigate.

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei also “deplores the fact” that the information was not immediately passed on to the Vienna-based watchdog “in accordance with the guidelines of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” the statement said.

“Under the NPT, the agency has a responsibility to verify any proliferation allegations in a non-nuclear weapon state party to the NPT,” the statement said.

“In light of the above, the director general views the unilateral military action by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the non-proliferation regime,” it added.

The evidence comprised photographs taken inside the reactor showing construction of the shield for the reactor core, and control rods and refueling ports on top of the reactor.

Officials said the reactor and the building that housed it were similar in design to the North Korean reactor at Yongbyon, which produces plutonium.

Damascus rejected the allegations as “ridiculous.”

“The construction of this reactor was a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the region and the world. The Syrian regime must come clean before the world,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

“We have good reason to believe that reactor ... was not intended for peaceful purposes.”

A senior U.S. intelligence official said the reactor was destroyed in an Israeli air strike on Sept 6, 2007 as it was nearing completion, although it had not been loaded with uranium fuel.

“Israel felt that this reactor posed such an existential threat that a different approach was required,” the official said.

France demanded Syria come completely clean on its nuclear activities.

“We had contact yesterday with the Americans, at their initiative, and we were able to exchange analyses and information,” said a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, Pascale Andreani.

“The clandestine construction of a nuclear reactor would be a grave infringement by Syria of its NPT obligations,” she said, adding that “we are also very concerned by the proliferation activities of North Korea.”

The revelations could upset six-country talks aimed at dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program, although chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said the intelligence suggested there was no “ongoing cooperation” between Pyongyang and Syria.

AFP