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North Korea has reduced the number of nuclear fuel rods being removed from the nuclear facility at Yongbyon, which is in the process of disablement, to about 30 a day, it emerged Sunday. North Korean authorities are apparently making good their ominous threat to ¡°adjust the speed¡± of disablement in response to delays in the shipments of energy aid the North is to get as a reward.
A diplomatic source confirmed this Sunday, saying the slowdown could extend the removal timetable from the agreed February deadline to early April, Removal of nuclear fuel rods began in early December last year based on the assumption that the North would extract about 100 a day. But it has slowed down since the beginning of the year.
It was on Jan. 4 that the North Korean Foreign Ministry warned it could adjust the speed in accordance with the action-for-action principle of six-nation nuclear disarmament talks. The source admitted it is difficult to find out how many nuclear fuel rods have so far been removed. Japan¡¯s Kyodo news agency said it was down to some 30 a day, down from the 80 a day needed to complete the process in 100 days. The agency said ¡°only about 1,000" of the rods have so far been extracted.
Meanwhile, little more than 200,000 tons of heavy fuel oil out of a promised 1 million have reportedly been shipped to the North. South Korea, the U.S., China and Russia have each sent 50,000 tons. A South Korean government official said, "We had expected that more than 300,000 tons would be shipped by early this year. But shipments have been delayed.¡± It seems they will be completed by the end of June at the earliest, since each nation faces its own ¡°peculiar situation," the source added.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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