NKorea has network of secret nuclear villages: Report

Seoul, Oct 31: North Korea has established secret towns with thousands of closely guarded residents whose sole mission is to develop nuclear weapons, a South Korean lawmaker said today.

Up to 36,000 people, including the North's top nuclear scientists and their families, live in the villages in complete isolation in the already reclusive country, Conservative Grand National Party lawmaker Song Young-sun said in a report.

''The areas where they reside are cut off from the outside -- not only geographically but also in terms of contact and communication with outsiders,'' Song's report said.

''All actions are heavily monitored,'' it said, adding that a special branch of the all-powerful ruling party was responsible for the top-secret project.

One of Song's aides said the 20-page report was compiled by the lawmaker and her staff from information collected from various sources including government agencies.

It was prepared for a session of parliament's Defence Committee, of which Song is a member.

The Defence Ministry declined to comment on the report, but analysts said the contents were plausible.

Song did not disclose the location of the towns, but said they were likely to be near known nuclear sites.

The residents of the towns include about 200 top nuclear experts and up to 9,000 support staff and their families.

A North Korea expert at the Korea Institute for National Unification, Cho Min, said the information was highly credible.

''This is a programme that the North has staked the fate of its regime on,'' Cho said, adding strands of Song's report had been told by refugees from the North.

The Guidance Bureau of the North's Workers' Party of Korea and senior party secretary Jon Pyong-ho have overall mandate of the nuclear programmes, Song said.

Jon has been known to be a confidant of the North's leader Kim Jong-il and is also a member of the powerful Defence Commission, which Kim heads.

North Korea conducted its first nuclear test on October 9, prompting the UN Security Council to slap sanctions on Pyongyang.

Reuters