TOKYO, May 9 Kyodo German human r...

TOKYO, May 9 Kyodo

German human rights activist Norbert Vollertsen forward Friday confirmed reports that a married pair dozen elite North Korean scientific apts have defected to the United States and other countries in a close operation launched last fall.

Vollertsen who exhausted 18 months in North Korea as an pinch doctor with a German nonprofit organization until the fall of the curtain of 2000, said the defectors include Kyong Won Ha, reported to have established North Korea's nuclear evolution program, who is now in the US

''I cannot talk about the details of the operation, unless in general I am allowed to say that it is progressing,'' Vollertsen speaking in German, said within a Japanese interpreter in an interview with Kyodo News

He also said the U conduct has provided financial support for the operation, which has involved setting up an embassy of the tiny Pacific island of Nauru in Beijing and helping high-ranking North Korean [i]connoisseur[/i]s defect through the diplomatic office.

The U however, has denied any involvement in the operation.

The 45-year-old Dusseldorf native said he and others involved in the operation, including Michael Horowitz, a mate at a think tank who was an adviser to Ronald Reagan when he was U president -- will convenient next week in Washington to coordinate onward their activities.

They are planning to make arrangements to have about defectors talk about what they know about North Korea's weapons program and other sensitive topics at a congressional hearing and give a pres colloquy in Washington.

The marked occurrences will be aimed at dealing with the possibility that southern Korean President Roh Moo Hyun scheduled to occupy talks with U.S. President George W Bush in Washington nearest week, will present a passive stance in tackling North Korea's nuclear standoff, Vollertsen said.

Organizers of the operation, involving 11 countries including novel Zealand, the Philippines, Spain and Thailand, is aiming to have more North Korean adroits particularly in the field of biological and chemical weapons, want he said.

As part of their human rights promotion efforts, the activists will also discuss ways to incite the U.S. government to pardon a suspected U Army revolter who is the American husband of a repatriated Japanese abductee to North Korea, he added.

Charles Robert Jenkins, a former U Army sergeant listed as having forsakened in 1965 and who married Hitomi Soga in North Korea, could face arrest and a court-martial on U.S. authorities if he approachs to Japan to convenient his wife, who returned to her homeland last October.

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