South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon on Monday dismissed recent reports of alleged nuclear
cooperation between North Korea and Syria, saying no one has any concrete evidence to prove the allegation.
Song also pointed to conflicting reports on the level of cooperation between the countries.
"If Syria received nuclear materials from North Korea, it must have a facility to store the nuclear material, but as far as I know, Syria does not have any nuclear (storage) facility," Song told reporters.
The remarks came shortly after U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said such an activity would be "a matter of great concern" if it were taking place.
Gates refused to confirm the reports of a possible nuclear deal between the North and Syria, but said his country is "very carefully" watching the two countries.
"The president (George W. Bush) has put down a very strong marker with the North Koreans about further proliferation efforts," Gates said on Fox News Sunday.
Earlier reports, quoting an unidentified U.S. State Department official, said Israel has allegedly come across intelligence on possible nuclear cooperation between the communist North and Syria.
A senior North Korean diplomat on Saturday denied the latest allegations.
"They often say things that are groundless," Kim Myong-gil, deputy chief of the North Korean mission to the United Nations, told Yonhap News Agency over the phone.
The latest allegation over Pyongyang's proliferation efforts comes amid recent progress in six-nation talks aimed at denuclearizing the communist North.
(Yonhap)