A Japanese daily says North Korea is helping Myanmar build a nuclear reactor and plutonium extraction facility.

The Asahi Shimbun cited an Australian news report based on the testimony of a Myanmar defector.

The defector claimed the nuclear reactor and extraction plant are under construction inside a mountain in Myanmar’s northern region, adding that the country’s military junta is aiming to develop a nuclear bomb within the next five years.

The daily said the defector was a former military officer of Myanmar’s secret nuclear battalion.