Last year, a UN report suggested that North Korea might have supplied the southeast Asian state as well as Iran and Syria with banned atomic technology.
In 2009, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was concerned about the possible transfer of such technology to Myanmar from North Korea, which has left the nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty (NPT) and tested two nuclear devices.
But Tin Win, Myanmar’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told its annual member state meeting: “Myanmar would like to restate that Myanmar is in no position to consider the production and use of nuclear weapons and does not have enough economic strength to do so.”
He told delegates that Myanmar in the past had “made arrangements” to carry out nuclear research with the help of Russia, but that this had been halted as the international community may “misunderstand” the country over the issue.
The aim of the research had been to ensure that it would “not lag behind other countries in that field and to improve the applications of nuclear technology in its education and health sectors.”
While backing the non-proliferation of nuclear arms, Myanmar also supported every state’s legitimate right to the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, the envoy added.
Myanmar has previously denied allegations by an exile group it was trying to develop atomic bombs and most analysts believe the isolated, impoverished nation remains well short of any goal to acquire nuclear capability.
But in January, Vienna-based diplomatic sources said the IAEA had written to Myanmar seeking information about its activities, suggesting it wanted to send inspectors there.
A Norwegian-based exile group said in mid-2010 that Myanmar had a secret program dedicated to developing the means to make nuclear weapons, following up on similar allegations by defectors from the reclusive state.
The IAEA said at the time that it was looking into the report. Myanmar is a member of both the NPT and the IAEA.
Formerly known as Burma and under longtime military rule, the country has been under Western sanctions for two decades and analysts say a nuclearized Myanmar could trigger an arms race in the region.
US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks late last year showed that Western diplomats were alarmed at cooperation between Myanmar and North Korea, but have not confirmed fears Pyongyang was sharing nuclear technology.
