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North Korea raises nuclear stakes
North Korea has moved to "increase its nuclear arsenal" by removing fuel rods from a nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, according to an official statement. The rods can be treated to produce plutonium for use in nuclear weapons. The statement comes amid an escalating stand-off between North Korea and the US, after reports that Pyongyang may be preparing a nuclear test. South Korea expressed "serious concern" about the North Korean statement, while China urged restraint from all sides. "We have been taking steps necessary to increase our nuclear arsenal for defence purposes," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency. There has been mounting speculation about the Yongbyon reactor since South Korea reported last month that it appeared to have been shut down, presumably in order to remove spent fuel rods. Recent satellite images are reported to also suggest possible preparations for a nuclear test in North Korea's remote north-east. The BBC's correspondent in Seoul, Charles Scanlon, says this latest announcement will be seen by the US as more provocation. The row over North Korea's nuclear programme first flared between Pyongyang and the Bush administration in 2002, when North Korea allegedly admitted to having a secret uranium programme. North Korea responded by expelling International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitors and restarting its plutonium reactor at Yongbyon - frozen under an agreement with the Clinton administration. Six-party international talks were set up to address the stand-off, but the North pulled out of them last June. The US envoy to North Korea, Christopher Hill, was in Beijing recently to try and persuade China to use its influence over the North and draw Pyongyang back to the talks. The US and Japan have been hinting at more coercive measures in recent weeks, but China and South Korea oppose sanctions and say more diplomacy is needed. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said at the weekend that North Korea already has enough weapons-grade plutonium for five or six nuclear weapons from its last harvest of spent fuel rods, begun in 2003. Analysts estimate that the latest extraction of rods could give the North at least another two atomic bombs, once the fuel has cooled down in about three months time. There is a sense in the region that tensions are again coming to the boil, says our correspondent. Posted by: Steve 2005-05-11 |
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