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In an 18,000-page declaration submitted to the United States, North Korea has admitted producing 37 kg of plutonium, the New York Times said Saturday quoting an unnamed U.S. government official. "That total would be more than the 30 kg that North Korea has acknowledged previously but somewhat less than the 40 to 50 kg that American intelligence agencies had calculated in the past,¡± the daily added. ¡°Estimates on how many nuclear bombs North Korea could wring from its plutonium program have ranged from six to 10.
The paper said no one in the U.S. administration is prepared to accept the documents at face value. ¡°Some intelligence analysts are particularly wary of the numbers they have seen so far,¡± it added. That suggests the declared amount is significantly smaller than what U.S. officials had expected. According to the newspaper, the negotiation team from the U.S. State Department is therefore demanding more documents.
In a meeting with reporters in Moscow on Friday, Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. nuclear negotiator, hinted that Pyiongyang will likely oblige and added, "The North Koreans were working very hard on the overall plutonium declaration."
Quoting U.S. officials, the newspaper said the documents ¡°go back to 1987 and contain information about North Korea¡¯s three major campaigns to reprocess plutonium for weapons -- in 1990, 2003 and 2005." But the documents do not contain any information on North Korea's alleged uranium program or nuclear proliferation activities.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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