GENEVA?The United States accused Iraq, North Korea and four other countries Monday of building germ-warfare arsenals, and said it worried one of them might be helping Osama bin Laden in his quest for biological weapons.

“We are concerned that [bin Laden] could have been trying to acquire a rudimentary biological weapons capability, possibly with support from a state,” said John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control.

Bolton refused to say which government might be involved.

The existence of Iraq’s program is “beyond dispute,” he said, while stopping short of making a direct linkage to bin Laden.

Nor did he say whether any of the five other countries he cited as being at various stages of germ-warfare development.

The countries of Libya, Syria, Iran and Sudan as well as North Korea?are suspected of trying to supply bin Laden.