N. Korea completes reprocessing of 8,000 spent fuel rods
Nov. 4, 2009
North Korea said Tuesday it completed reprocessing of about 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods at its Yongbyon nuclear complex by the end of August, in a move apparently aimed at drawing the United States into one-on-one talks to address the nuclear standoff.
''Noticeable successes have been made in turning the extracted plutonium weapon-grade for the purpose of bolstering up the nuclear deterrent'' in North Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency said, suggesting the country has weaponized the plutonium.
KCNA, however, did not say how much plutonium had been extracted.
In a separate dispatch, KCNA said North Korea has made ''signal achievements'' in the production of uranium ore that the country hopes will satisfactorily provide nuclear fuel to a light-water reactor power plant it will build in the future.
The announcements came a day after Pyongyang repeated its call for direct negotiations with Washington, saying that if the two countries end their mutual hostility and forge trust, progress could be made toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea said in April that it would start reprocessing nuclear spent fuel rods to produce plutonium at the Yongbyon complex, located 90 kilometers north of Pyongyang, in protest at U.N. criticism of its rocket launch earlier that month.
North Korea said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council in September that its reprocessing activity is ''in its final phase and extracted plutonium is being weaponized.''
Pyongyang also said in the same month that it had nearly completed enriching uranium, giving it a new way of developing nuclear weapons in addition to its known plutonium-based program.
In April, North Korea declared its withdrawal from the six-party talks on ending the North's nuclear ambitions and in May conducted a second nuclear test.
But in an apparent policy shift, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Oct. 5 expressed readiness to hold multilateral talks, including the six-way talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, depending on the outcome of bilateral dialogue with the United States.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Nov. 3, 2009)
''Noticeable successes have been made in turning the extracted plutonium weapon-grade for the purpose of bolstering up the nuclear deterrent'' in North Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency said, suggesting the country has weaponized the plutonium.
KCNA, however, did not say how much plutonium had been extracted.
In a separate dispatch, KCNA said North Korea has made ''signal achievements'' in the production of uranium ore that the country hopes will satisfactorily provide nuclear fuel to a light-water reactor power plant it will build in the future.
The announcements came a day after Pyongyang repeated its call for direct negotiations with Washington, saying that if the two countries end their mutual hostility and forge trust, progress could be made toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea said in April that it would start reprocessing nuclear spent fuel rods to produce plutonium at the Yongbyon complex, located 90 kilometers north of Pyongyang, in protest at U.N. criticism of its rocket launch earlier that month.
North Korea said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council in September that its reprocessing activity is ''in its final phase and extracted plutonium is being weaponized.''
Pyongyang also said in the same month that it had nearly completed enriching uranium, giving it a new way of developing nuclear weapons in addition to its known plutonium-based program.
In April, North Korea declared its withdrawal from the six-party talks on ending the North's nuclear ambitions and in May conducted a second nuclear test.
But in an apparent policy shift, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Oct. 5 expressed readiness to hold multilateral talks, including the six-way talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, depending on the outcome of bilateral dialogue with the United States.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Nov. 3, 2009)
