New York: Disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan has told interrogators that he was shown three nuclear devices during his visit to a secret underground nuclear plant in North Korea five years ago, a media report said today (Apr 13, 2004).

Khan was allowed to inspect the weapons briefly, according to Pakistani classified briefing to countries within reach of North Korean missiles, it said.

If Khan's account were true, it would be the first time that any foreigner has reported inspecting an actual North Korean nuclear weapon, the 'New York Times' report said quoting American officials who were briefed by Pakistan.

Earlier, based on assessment of the quantity of plutonium Pyongyang could produce, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had estimated that North Korea had one or two weapons and the ability to produce more.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney was expected to discuss the Pakistani intelligence report in his meetings with Chinese leaders in Beijing today.

White House officials declined to discuss the reports, saying that the subject was "too sensitive."

Khan also told Pakistani officials that he began dealing with North Korea on the sale of equipment for a second way of producing nuclear weapons through the enrichment of uranium, as opposed to plutonium as early as the late 1980's.

But Khan said he did not begin major shipments to North Korea until the late 1990's, after the country's plutonium programme was frozen under an agreement with the United States.

Khan was interrogated by Pakistani officials, as American agencies were not permitted to question him.