N.Korea denies nuclear link with Iran

SEOUL, (AFP)

North Korea on Saturday dismissed allegations as that it is providing Iran with nuclear expertise, insisting that it continues to behave only as a "responsible" nuclear-armed state.

A foreign ministry spokesman said that some Western media had spread rumours that the communist state was cooperating with Iran in nuclear development "in a bid to mislead public opinion."

"Their assertion is nothing but a sheer lie and fabrication intended to tarnish the image of the DPRK (North Korea) by charging it with 'nuclear proliferation'," the spokesman was quoted as saying by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.

"As solemnly declared more than once by the DPRK, it will continue to sincerely honor its duty it had assumed before the international community in the field of nuclear non-proliferation as a responsible nuclear weapons state," he added.

The Daily Telegraph in London reported on Wednesday that North Korea was helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one carried out by Pyongyang last October.

Citing an unnamed senior European defence official, the newspaper said that North Korea has agreed to share all data from its nuclear test last year as both countries face Western pressures over the development of their nuclear programmes.

The denial came as six-party talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear programmes were widely expected to resume in the week of February 5.