| Entire story based on the word of a single 'expert', so beware. |
The North Korean official would neither confirm nor deny the country was planning to conduct its first known nuclear test, Harrison said. Last month, foreign intelligence reports said unusual activity at a possible testing site had been detected, sparking fears of an imminent test.
The Yongbyon reactor has been at the center of U.S. concerns about North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The reactor's spent fuel rods can be mined for plutonium, which can then be used to construct nuclear bombs. Removing the fuel rods is "a significant new development because it underlines that North Korea is enhancing its weapons capability," Harrison said. "Every time they unload it, they are getting a new increment of plutonium to be reprocessed and they are adding to the number of weapons that they could make," he said.
North Korea last removed fuel rods at the facility in June 2005 and was not due to do so again until June 2007, Harrison told reporters in Beijing shortly after arriving from a four-day stay in North Korea. "They are speeding it up because they want to use Yongbyon as leverage to get bilateral negotiations with the United States," he said.