Russia, China helped North Korea, says US

US officials have said that the Bush administration believes Russia and China had helped North Korea develop its nuclear weapons programme and said it would urge both to stop the cooperation and condemn Pyongyang for breaking international pacts.

The allegation came just a day after US officials revealed North Korea admitted to developing a secret nuclear weapons programme. US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly met Chinese officials on Friday to urge Beijing to stop what US officials say is assistance for a secret North Korean nuclear weapons programme. Both sides remained tight-lipped about the talks.

Russia on Friday strongly denied its involvement in North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme saying it stopped all cooperation in this field with pyongyang after it renegaded on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1993.

‘‘This has absolutely nothing to do with reality,’’ Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said reacting to reports that Russia could have helped North Korea develop its nuclear programme. (Reuters)