SEOUL, Jan. 8 (Yonhap) -- A delegation of Iranian defense officials visited North Korea in late November in an apparent bid to discuss military cooperation, including uranium enrichment, a report said Sunday.

   Citing an informed source, Japan's Kyodo News Agency said a three-member Iranian delegation visited the North to talk with key officials including head of the military general staff Ri Yong-ho in an apparent move to cement military cooperation and discuss advanced centrifuge technologies related to uranium enrichment.

   Ri is a core member of the supporters of the leadership spearheaded by the North's new leader Kim Jong-un. Kim, who was named "supreme leader" of the communist country, is consolidating his power since his father Kim Jong-il died of a heart failure on Dec. 17.

   A separate report said Sunday that Iran has begun to enrich uranium at a new underground site, which is well protected from possible airstrikes, defying the international community's moves to impose nuclear sanctions on the Islamic country.

   In 2010, North Korea revealed it is running a uranium enrichment facility, shocking the international community. Highly enriched uranium can be used to make weapons, giving Pyongyang another way to build nuclear bombs in addition to its existing plutonium program. The North conducted two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

   North Korea has long been suspected of being behind nuclear and missile proliferation in Iran, Syria, Myanmar and Pakistan.

   Yonhap News Agency reported earlier that hundreds of North Korean nuclear and missile experts have been collaborating with their Iranian counterparts in more than 10 locations across the Islamic state.

   The Iranian Embassy in Seoul denied the report, arguing that it has indigenous technology for a peaceful nuclear program.

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