Washington: Despite Islamabad's assertion that it has no role in North Korea's clandestine nuclear programme, a senior Bush administration official has said that Pakistan, along with some other countries, indeed supplied nuclear weapon-related equipment and technology to Pyongyang.

The senior official re-confirmed Pakistan's involvement after President Pervez Musharraf, in a joint press conference with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad in Islamabad on October 18 night, rejected as "baseless" reports that Pakistan supported North Korea's nuclear programme, 'The Washington Post' said on October 19.

The paper quoted the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying that Pakistan did so "in return" for North Korea's missiles and missile technology.

US officials said that other countries, including Russia, were also involved though they did not say what they could get in return from North Korea.

What these countries provided, according to US officials, was material that included precursor chemicals and metal suitable for building centrifuges.

'The Post' said the US received evidence of uranium enrichment efforts in North Korea as early as two years ago but only recently decided to confront the North Korean government about it, according to "sources in the United States and Asia".

The secrecy of the Bush administration in revealing to lawmakers about what it knew about the North Korean missile programme and those who were helping Pyongyang has "strained" President George W Bush's relations in Congress, the paper said.

PTI