Egypt's missile cooperation with N. Korea may affect U.S. ties

WASHINGTON — Despite U.S. sanctions, Egypt continues to cooperate with North Korea on missile development.

U.S. officials said Cairo has dismissed quiet warnings by Washington and is advancing Egyptian missile programs with the help of North Korea. They said the cooperation includes the North Korean transfer of missile components, materials and technical expertise.

It is not clear whether U.S. policy toward Egypt will change as a result of plans by the Bush administration to block North Korean missile exports to the Middle East. On Wednesday, President Bush expressed skepticism over North Korea's credibility during talks with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.

"I am concerned that the North Koreans are shipping weapons of mass destruction around the world," Bush said. "We want to make sure their ability to develop and spread weapons of mass destruction was in fact stopped. Part of the problem in dealing with North Korea, there's not very much transparency. "We're not certain as to whether or not they're keeping all terms of all agreements."

On Friday, The Washington Times reported that U.S. intelligence had obtained a photograph from a spy satellite of a shipment of missile components being loaded at a port in Nampo on the west coast of North Korea. The story said Bush had been briefed about the siting in advance of his meeting with Kim.

The missile issue is regarded as extremely sensitive, officials said, and the Bush administration is not expected to highlight it during the visit of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to Washington next month. Mubarak will meet Bush on April 2.

In the latest CIA report on proliferation, Egypt is given only scant mention. "Egypt continues its effort to develop and produce ballistic missiles with the assistance of North Korea," the CIA report said. "This activity is part of a long-running program of ballistic missile cooperation between these two countries."

U.S. officials said the missile cooperation goes both ways. In 1999, the State Department slapped sanctions on three Egyptian state-controlled firms for transferring technology to Pyongyang. The sanctions were recorded in the Federal Registry, but were never announced.

"The sanctions were actually a slap on the wrist and didn't even begin to address the subject," a Western intelligence official who monitors the issue said. "But it was the minimum the State Department could do amid growing evidence of Egyptian-North Korean cooperation."

Already, Pyongyang has warned that it might end its moratorium on tests of the long-range Taepo Dong-2 missile amid delays in fulfilling U.S. pledges for aid and technology.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Bush administration might also demand that North Korea reduce the size of its army. Powell was testifying to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.