South Korea's National Security Adviser has refuted reports claiming that the Russian Government had supplied nuclear submarine reactor modules to North Korea.
Wi Sung-lac has downplayed the reports and told local media that the existence of such intelligence could not be confirmed by the government.
According to local newspaper Korea JoongAng Daily, unnamed military sources in Seoul have said that Russia allegedly transferred two to three modules consisting of reactor cores, cooling systems, and turbines to North Korea during the first half of this year.
The sources said that the modules are believed to have been removed from earlier Russian Navy nuclear-powered submarines that have since been decommissioned, and that the South Korean Government has been working to determine the veracity of the intelligence.
One anonymous government source said that nuclear submarine technology is among the military hardware that Pyongyang had been requesting from Moscow since last year.
Analysts believe that the importation of the modules from Russia would provide North Korea with access to small-scale reactor technology, which it could then reverse-engineer for later application in the manufacture of its own nuclear-powered submarines.
