N. Korea Closer To More Nukes

[David]

AP


North Korea said Wednesday it had completed removing spent nuclear fuel rods from a reactor ? a move that could allow it to harvest more weapons-grade plutonium ? in the communist state's latest provocation amid a deadlock in disarmament talks.

A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said the country had "successfully completed" removing 8,000 fuel rods from the reactor at its main nuclear complex, Yongbyon, in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

The move comes after South Korean officials confirmed last month that the Yongbyon reactor was shut down, which would allow the rods to be removed and be reprocessed to extract weapons-grade plutonium. The North didn't specifically say Wednesday it would take such a step.

"We are continuing to take necessary measures to increase (our) nuclear arsenal for self-defense purposes," the unnamed spokesman said.

Experts have earlier said reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods could yield enough plutonium for between five to eight nuclear bombs, depending on the weapon design. To get the plutonium, the rods would first need to cool for a couple months and then be reprocessed, which also takes a couple months.

North Korea kicked out international nuclear inspectors in late 2002, making it impossible to verify their latest claim.

The North Korean spokesman noted Wednesday that the country had already announced plans to operate its 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon, some 50 miles north of Pyongyang, and resume construction on a bigger reactor there because the United States pulled out of a 1994 deal on the North's nuclear program.

U.S. officials accused the North of running a secret uranium enrichment program in 2002 in violation of the earlier deal made under the Clinton administration, sparking the latest nuclear crisis.

Worries have also grown recently that the North is preparing a nuclear test, with U.S. officials saying last week that spy satellites show activity in northeastern Kilju ? including tunnel digging and the construction of a reviewing stand a sufficient distance away ? that could indicate such a move.

On Tuesday, the North's main newspaper alleged the United States was making a "fuss" by spreading reports of alleged test preparations. However, the commentary in the state-run Rodong Sinmun daily didn't deny the North was planning a test.

Amid the tension, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said over the weekend that Pyongyang already had enough plutonium to make up to six bombs.

Also on Tuesday, China declared flatly that it won't reduce fuel supplies to North Korea to discourage that country from testing a nuclear weapon.

"We are not in favor of exerting pressure or imposing sanctions. We believe that such measures will not necessarily have an effect," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

North Korea receives most of its energy through a pipeline from China. Trade between the nations also is rising quickly, providing economic support to the isolated regime of Kim Jong Il.

Trade relations between China and North Korea -- or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as it's known -- shouldn't be linked to the nuclear issue, Liu said, and won't be affected by the "worrying developments" on the Korean Peninsula.

A senior U.S. diplomat, Christopher R. Hill, visited Beijing late in April and reportedly asked China to cut off oil deliveries to North Korea as a way to prod the regime back to six-nation disarmament talks.

International disarmament talks with North Korea ? including China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States ? have been stalled since last June, with Pyongyang insisting it won't return until Washington drops its "hostile" policy.