Fears N Korea aided on bomb

Iran suspected of helping in rapid nuclear advance

NORTH Korea’s sudden advancement in developing nuclear weapons may be due to secret support from Iran, British officials fear, after being shocked by the speed of development.

The Foreign Office is investigating whether current and former nuclear states helped Kim Jong-un in his drive to mount nuclear warheads onto missiles.

Senior Whitehall sources have said it is not credible that North Korean scientists alone brought about the technological advances.

Iran is top of the list of countries suspected of providing assistance, while Russia and even China – which shares a land border with the rogue state – are also in the spotlight.

The fear is that outside influences have provided North Korea with either the equipment or expertise that has moved them closer to becoming a nucleararmed nation.

“North Korean scientists are people of some ability, but clearly they’re not doing it entirely in a vacuum,” one government minister said.

Another source said: “For them to have done this entirely on their own stretches the bounds of credulity.”

The hope is that identifying any link could open new diplomatic avenues for exerting pressure on the regime, which has refused to change course despite economic sanctions.

The US will seek approval from the UN Security Council today for a ban on exporting oil to North Korea, according to a leaked draft resolution.

The US also wants a ban on textile exports from the country as well as an asset freeze and travel ban on Kim.

However, it is unclear if China – which supplies about 500 000 tons of crude oil annually – or Russia will support the move.

A veto from either would kill the resolution.

Last month, the regime sent a missile over Japan, while last week an explosion at a testing site measured 6.3 on the Richter scale, 10 times more powerful than the tremor from the last test.

At the start of the year, it was estimated that North Korea would need a decade before it could launch intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. That has now been slashed to just a handful of years.

Britain’s most senior cabinet ministers were briefed on the “fast forward” in the country’s nuclear capabilities at a National Security Council meeting this year.

Government sources said there were hawkish elements in the US administration who believed there was an argument for military intervention. They argued that the window of opportunity for action was narrowing.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said there was an investigation into exactly how North Korea had managed to make this leap in technological ability.

“We are looking at the possible role that may have been played, inadvertently or otherwise, by some current and former nuclear states.”