WASHINGTON Ñ North Korea has built a network of tunnels in several countries in the Middle East designed to conceal weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. The technology is believed to have been used by Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden in protecting his secret hideouts in the Afghan mountains.

The demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is famous for the tunnels dug from the North to infiltrate spies and to serve as invastion routes to the South

U.S. officials said Pyongyang has provided technology and equipment for such tunnels in countries such as Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria. Egypt has also engaged in the construction of tunnels, particularly under the Suez Canal, Middle East Newsline reported. The tunnels, including the ones built in North Korea, are believed to be concealing medium- and intermediate-range missiles as well as biological and chemical weapons.

The tunnels have posed a technological challenge to the U.S. military. The officials said this could provide obstacles in destroying terrorist headquarters and WMD assets. "It is one of the interesting things that, given the end of the Cold War and the relaxation of tension and the increase in proliferation and the availability of dual-use capabilities, that a lot of countries have done a lot of digging underground," U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in a Thursday briefing. "And it is not unique to Afghanistan. It does make much more complicated the task of dealing with targets because, as you've known from photographs you've seen of North Korea, it is perfectly possible to dig into the side of a mountain and put a large ballistic missile in there and erect it and fire it out of the mountain from an underground post."

The officials said North Korea is regarded as a leader in the construction of tunnels. They said Pyongyang has equipment and know-how to quickly build tunnels such as that tunnel which crosses underneath the English Channel.

Rumsfeld said the dual-use equipment provided to Middle East countries can dig 50-foot diameter circles 200 feet deep in a day. Bin Laden and the ruling Afghan Taliban movement, he said, have built many of these tunnels.

Officials said U.S. Air Force B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers have been dropping a range of weapons, including the GBU-28 5,000-pound bunk-busters as well as earth-penetrating charges in Afghanistan in an effort to destroy the tunnels.

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