US fears N Korea-Burma nuclear transfers

The United States is worried about the transfer of nuclear technology from North Korea to Burma, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.

She told Thai television network Nation TV that "we worry about the transfer of nuclear technology" from the Stalinist state to military-ruled Burma.

Clinton was heading to the Thai resort island of Phuket for Asia's biggest security forum, where concerns about cooperation between the two pariah states are set to dominate discussions.

Suspicions about their military cooperation escalated after a US Navy destroyer last month began tracking a suspect North Korean ship that was reportedly heading for Burma.

The vessel came under scrutiny under new United Nations sanctions designed to punish Pyongyang over a recent underground nuclear test and a series of rocket launches including a long-range projectile.

Separately, a group of exiled Burmese activists last month released pictures of what they said was a secret network of tunnels built by North Korean experts inside Burma.

Both countries are isolated and under international sanctions. Clinton said on Tuesday that military cooperation between them would be "destabilising" for the region, with concerns being taken "very seriously" by the US.