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Norks trying to enrich uranium, South says
 SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea appears to be enriching uranium, potentially giving the state that has twice tested a plutonium-based nuclear device another path to making atomic weapons, South Korea's defense minister said on Tuesday.
| And another path for sales to other, like-minded thug-states ... |
"It is clear that they are moving forward with it," Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee told a parliamentary hearing, adding such a programme was far easier to hide than the North's current plutonium-based activities.
North Korea earlier this month responded to U.N. punishment for its most recent nuclear test in May by saying it would start enriching uranium for a light-water reactor. Experts said destitute North Korea lacks the technology and resources to build such a costly civilian reactor but may use the programme as a cover to enrich uranium for weapons.
North Korea, which has ample supplies of natural uranium, would be able to conduct an enrichment programme in underground or undisclosed facilities and away from the prying eyes of U.S. spy satellites.
| Makes you wonder if they've been enriching all along. It's a pain to do but they have plenty of uranium and plenty of time. Perhaps they and Iran are working on this problem together. |
The North's plutonium programme uses an aging reactor and is centered at its Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear plant, which has been watched by U.S. aerial reconnaissance for years.
Proliferation experts said the North has purchased equipment needed for uranium enrichment, including centrifuges and high-strength aluminum tubes, but they doubt that Pyongyang has seriously pursued the project.
| They bought centrifuges and tubes but they're not seriously pursuing it? How much more serious do they have to be to convince the experts? Shall we await the earth-shattering kaboom? |
"It seems unlikely that North Korea will succeed in establishing a substantial enrichment capability ... in the near term," nuclear expert Hui Zhang wrote in an article this month in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, adding outside help from the likes of Pyongyang's ally Iran could speed up the process.
| No kidding? By golly, it's like he reads Rantburg ... |
A U.S. accusation that Pyongyang was clandestinely operating a uranium enrichment plan led to the breakdown of a 1994 disarmament deal. New, six-way nuclear talks began in 2003 but are now dormant after the North quit the process in April.
| Which means we had suspicions, back in 2001, that the Norks were enriching uranium. Who thinks they gave it all up back then? |
Posted by: Steve White 2009-07-02 |
