Intelligence Chief Sees No N.K Nuke Test Rumors of N.Korea Crisis in June Intensify Nations Soften to Save Six-Party Talks

"We've successfully completed the removal of 8,000 spent fuel rods from the 5 megawatt test nuclear power station [in Yongbyon] within the shortest time possible,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson told a reporter from the state-run [North] Korean Central News Agency. “We have been taking steps necessary to increase our nuclear arsenal for defense purposes, with the basic purpose of developing our nuclear power industry.”

Plutonium is obtained by reprocessing spent fuel rods from a reactor, which must first be shut down. It emerged early last month that North Korea suspended activity at the reactor, with Wednesday’s announcement confirming that it did so to extract the rods and not because of a technical fault, as some observers suggested.

Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon earlier said it would give rise to “serious concerns” if Pyongyang intended to reprocess the rods. The next step after extracting the fuel rods is to begin reprocessing them, and this would signify that North Korea is securing more plutonium. North Korea’s nuclear capabilities would increase by however much additional plutonium it extracts.

Some observers question if it is technically possible to remove the fuel rods within a month of shutting down the reactor. But a government official said, “Usually, you wait a month after shutting down the reactor, and extracting the rods usually takes a couple of months, so it normally takes three to six months from shutting down the reactor to completing the removal... But if you ignore safety concerns and make up your mind to extract the fuel rods no matter what, it’s not impossible to do it within two months.” Also, satellite photos on April 7 confirmed the Yongbyon reactor was shut down, but it could have been shut down prior to that.

On April 19, North Korean Deputy Ambassador to the UN Han Song-ryol said his country had “plans to reprocess spent fuel rods to make nuclear warheads.”

Meanwhile, Washington would not rise to the bait on Wednesday. White House spokesperson Scott McClellan said, “I don't think we're going to get into discussing intelligence-related matters. But that's why I made the point that provocative comments and steps by North Korea only further isolate it from the international community.” State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher said, “I didn't have enough time to check, but they've made similar statements in the past about this. And as I've said before, we see rhetoric, claims, statements, activities, whatever by North Korea that go in the wrong direction.” The New York Times wrote North Korea could be trying to intimidate the U.S. into more concessions, but it was equally likely the fuel rods had to be removed fast due to a problem at the Yongbyon reactor.

A high-ranking official in the Japanese Foreign Ministry said, “It’s brinkmanship diplomacy that totally disregards the atmosphere of the international community... Can they actually conduct a nuclear test?” The acting head of the Liberal Democratic Party and North Korea hardliner Shinzo Abe said economic sanctions would need to be discussed in the UN Security Council if North Korea carried out a nuclear test. The major Japanese papers carried the North Korean Foreign Ministry announcement either on their front pages or as inside top stories, analyzing the move as “a ploy to gain the initiative in the six-party talks” (Asahi Shimbun) and “a hard-line measure to win concessions from the U.S.” (Mainichi Shimbun).

There was no official response from Beijing, but its Foreign Ministry answered a request from Reuters by saying it hoped participants in the six-party talks would do nothing to imperil the restart of the talks. But Wang Jiarui, the foreign affairs chief of the Chinese Communist Party, when asked during a meeting of the Korea-China Friendship Association what China would do if the dispute were referred to the UN Security Council, said it would “depend on the content of the Security Council resolution.” Wang's response was the first time a Chinese official has revealed a position premised on the nuclear issue being referred to the UN Security Council.

(englishnews@chosun.com )