Nuclear reactors sold by a multi-national company partly led by former World Trade Organisation chief Mr Peter Sutherland cannot be used to help North Korea's bid to acquire nuclear weapons.
Last weekend, the Sunday Independent reported that the North Koreans are planning to develop weapons from the two 1,000 megawatt reactors sold by giant energy company, ABB.
Mr Sutherland and current US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld had sat on the board of ABB at the time of the sale, though both stood down in 2001.
The newspaper claimed that North Korea could increase its number of nuclear missiles from an estimated two to ten "thanks to material plundered from nuclear reactors".
However, the ABB reactors were sold not to the North Korean authorities but to an international body known as the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organisation (KEDO).
KEDO promised Pyongyang 500,000 tonnes of cheap oil annually and two light water nuclear reactors if they abandoned heavy water nuclear plants, which can be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium.
Set up in 1995, KEDO is backed by the US, South Korea, the EU, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. Nearly two dozen other countries have offered material or financial support.
In 2000, a leading European Commission official, Mr Allan Maxwell, said KEDO was "a vital contribution to nuclear non-proliferation, safety, stability and rapprochement on the Korean peninsula". The KEDO plants will not go into operation until 2007/2008, and it is possible that North Korea's decision to resume its nuclear weapons programme could delay matters further.
Last month, the US, South Korea and Japan agreed to postpone the purchase of some key components for the light water reactors in protests at North Korea's activities.
A photograph available on the KEDO website (kedo.org) shows clearly that the construction site for the reactors is currently little more than a hole in the ground.
Now a leading international businessman, Mr Sutherland was extremely upset by the newspaper article and is understood to be seeking an apology.
In a statement to The Irish Times, ABB said it had signed a $200m contract with two South Korean companies, who are to install the reactors.
"The project goes back to the mid-1990s and falls under inter-governmental agreements initiated by the US government, aimed at making North Korea dismantle its existing nuclear power technology and replace it with proliferation-resistant light water reactors," said ABB's head of communications, Mr Bjorn Edlund.
"It is probable that the ABB board of directors was informed about this contract, since the board is routinely informed about large projects, even though no formal board approval would have been required in this case and no mentioning of the project is recorded in the minutes of the board," he went on.
In 2000, ABB sold its nuclear power business to British Nuclear Fuels Limited, which operates Sellafield.
Last December, the North Koreans told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it was restarting one heavy water nuclear reactor and reopening another. Just weeks later, the North Koreans ordered IAEA inspectors out of the country and removed the security cameras that the agency had placed on its heavy water plants.
The US Congress had warned the previous month that the restarted reactor could produce enough plutonium annually to make one nuclear bomb.
The oil shipments to North Korea were halted in retaliation by the US after Pyongyang decided to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The IAEA last January demanded that North Korea complies with international safety standards and re-establish the seals and cameras removed from the heavy water plants.
