North Korea is feared to take centre stage in the nuclear black market even if the six-way talks succeed in halting its nuclear programme, a prominent non-proliferation expert said Friday.
Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), raised worries about the illicit trade of nuclear materials and expertise by the secretive communist nation's corrupt officials and scientists.
"A future black market from North Korea may take the form of quasi-state activity," he said during a press conference held on the sidelines of a regional security forum.
SINGAPORE, June 1 (Yonhap) - North Korea is feared to take centre stage in the nuclear black market even if the six-way talks succeed in halting its nuclear programme, a prominent non-proliferation expert said Friday.
Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), raised worries about the illicit trade of nuclear materials and expertise by the secretive communist nation's corrupt officials and scientists.
"A future black market from North Korea may take the form of quasi-state activity," he said during a press conference held on the sidelines of a regional security forum.
The Shangri-La Dialogue, named after the Singapore hotel where it is held each year, began its its three-day session on Friday, bringing together more than 200 defence ministers, senior military officers and security experts from 24 countries. The forum is organized by the IISS, a Longdon-based think tank.
The IISS recently published a dossier on nuclear black markets highlighting the rise of global proliferation networks, including the one involving Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan.
Fitzpatrick, who was in charge of nonproliferation issues in the US State Department for a long time, said North Korea has been both a key recipient and supplier on the nuclear black market.
He said it has great potential to play a bigger role in the illegal nuclear business.
"In the case of the breakdown of centralized control in North Korea, you could easily imagine nuclear assets - bombs or fissile material - being under the control of somebody other than the central government who may be lovely willing to sell it," he said.
He also emphasized that the North's activity should be closely monitored, even after the success of the six-nation process aimed at ending its nuclear programme.
"In the case of six-party talks succeeding in stopping North Korea's programme and disabling it, North Korea would be left with an excess supply of nuclear-related material, including chemicals for reproducing plutonium, which unless they were secured by the parties of the six-party talks or the IAEA, North Korea might be tempted to try to sell on the black market," he said.
He said Iran or international terrorist groups like Al-Qaida can be a potential primary customer for North Korea.
"I want to be careful about saying whether or not Iran is trying to buy form North Korea. That is one possibility for the future," he said.
He stressed the need for coordinated interdiction actions, such as the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), to make up for a possible failure in nonproliferation controls.
South Korea has been participating only in some off-shore PSI exercises in a bid not to antagonize the North.
Fitzpatrick said a greater role by South Korea and China in the PSI will make it more efficient.
