Washington: The United States has said it was working closely with Pakistan to dismantle the nuclear proliferation network of disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist A Q Khan and had received "significant amounts of information" about the activities of his associates.

"The US has been working very closely with Pakistan to dismantle the A Q Khan network. That has been our primary goal," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday (Apr 13, 2004).

Asked whether the US was getting everything it wants, Boucher said, "I don't think I can quite make that judgment at this point".

The US, in working with Pakistan on the whole network, has received significant amounts of information from Pakistan about the network, about Khan's activities, about the activities of his associates, about others who are involved, he said. "So yes, we have received information from them and we have received a lot of cooperation from them in terms of working together," he said.

Khan had told interrogators that he was shown three nuclear devices at a secret nuclear plant in North Korea five years ago, 'The New York Times' had said yesterday, quoting officials.

"We would note", Boucher said, "that Mr Khan has admitted to assessing North Korea's enrichment programme, and his admissions have put the lie to North Korean denials."