N Korea plutonium and weapons claims

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8339439.stm

North Korea has completed the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods to extract weapons-grade plutonium, according to its official news agency.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) added that "noticeable successes" had been made in turning the extracted material into weapons-grade plutonium.

The statement comes one day after North Korea said it was ready for talks with the US on its nuclear programme.

It also threatened to "go its own way" if Washington refused direct talks.

Eight thousand spent fuel rods had been reprocessed, KCNA said. Analysts say this is enough plutonium to make at least one atomic bomb.

North Korea was already believed by some analysts to have enough weapons-grade plutonium for about six bombs, but had none small enough to place on a missile.

"Noticeable successes have been made in turning the extracted plutonium weapon-grade for the purpose of bolstering up the nuclear deterrent in the DPRK [North Korea]," said the KCNA statement.

'Grave insult'

The announcement is the latest move in stop-start attempts by the US and its allies to end North Korea's nuclear programme.

[North Korea] was compelled to take measures for bolstering up its deterrent for self-defence to cope with the increasing nuclear threat and military provocations of the hostile forces
Korean Central News Agency

The nuclear fuel cycle
Q&A: North Korea nuclear row

North Korea said on Monday that it was ready to return to six-party talks on rolling back its nuclear programme if the US first agreed to hold bilateral talks.

The six parties are the two Koreas, the US, China, Japan and Russia.

The US has repeatedly said bilateral talks can be held as part of the six-party process.

The forum had reached agreement in 2007 that North Korea would shut down the Yongbyon nuclear complex in return for fuel aid and political concessions for the isolated country.

But the deal unravelled late last year amid a disagreement over how to verify North Korea's account of its atomic activity.

When North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket in April brought UN censure, Pyongyang announced it was restarting the Yongbyon reactor and would begin to reprocess the spent fuel rods.

An underground nuclear test, the second since 2006, triggered UN sanctions.

In September, the North said it had entered the final phase of enriching uranium, which would give it a second path to making nuclear weapons.

In its latest statement, KCNA said the UN censure of what it called a peaceful attempt to launch a satellite was "a grave insult to the dignity of its people".

North Korea "was compelled to take measures for bolstering up its deterrent for self-defence to cope with the increasing nuclear threat and military provocations of the hostile forces," the statement said.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9BO6DAG1&show_article=1

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea claimed Tuesday that it has successfully weaponized more plutonium for atomic bombs, a day after warning Washington to agree quickly to direct talks or face the prospect of a growing North Korean nuclear arsenal.

The announcement underlined Pyongyang's impatience over securing one-on-one talks with Washington, as well as the difficulties in dealing with a regime that resorts to threats and provocations to get what it wants.

Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said North Korea had finished reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, which experts say would provide enough weapons-grade plutonium for at least one more nuclear bomb.

The claim may not mean much, since North Korea is believed to already have enough weaponized plutonium for half a dozen nuclear weapons. But the timing—a day after Pyongyang warned it would beef up its nuclear arsenal if the U.S. refused to agree on bilateral talks—shows the communist regime is flexing its atomic might to push Washington to act, analysts said.

"North Korea is trying to show off its nuclear might as a way to pressure the United States to agree to the talks," said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.

The U.S. Embassy in Seoul said it had no comment.

North Korea has long sought direct nuclear negotiations with the U.S., believing that it is the easiest, fastest and surefire way of ensuring the survival of the totalitarian regime and win economic concessions to rebuild its moribund economy.

On Monday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry warned that "if the U.S. is not ready to sit at a negotiating table with the (North), it will go its own way," an apparent threat to bolster its nuclear arsenal.

Pyongyang has claimed it needs atomic weapons to defend itself against the U.S., which fought against the North during the Korean War of the 1950s and has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea to protect the ally.

The U.S. says it has no intention of attacking the North.

But the North said Tuesday that it remains "compelled to take measures to bolster its deterrent for self-defense to cope with the increasing nuclear threat and military provocations of the hostile forces."

KCNA reported "noticeable successes" in weaponizing plutonium.

Washington has said it is willing to meet one-on-one with the North if the talks lead to the resumption of six-nation negotiations involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S.

However, discussions between a North Korean envoy and a U.S. official last week did not yield an agreement to hold talks, both sides said.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters Monday that Sung Kim, the chief U.S. nuclear negotiator, recently had useful discussions with Ri Gun, North Korea's No. 2 official for nuclear talks. He said the U.S. is still considering North Korea's offer.

North Korea agreed in 2007 to disable its main nuclear facility in Yongbyon—a step toward its ultimate dismantlement—in exchange for much-needed energy aid and political concessions. However, Pyongyang halted that process more than a year ago and later abandoned the pact amid international censure for a series of nuclear and missile tests.

North Korean officials restarted the nuclear facilities in April in retaliation for a U.N. rebuke of a rocket launch widely criticized as an illicit test of its long-range missile technology. The country also kicked out international nuclear monitors.

The North then conducted its second-ever nuclear test in May and later launched a series of banned ballistic missile tests, prompting the U.N. Security Council to toughen sanctions against the regime.

In September, North Korea said it was in the final stage of reprocessing spent fuel rods, and claimed it had succeeded in enriching uranium, a process that would give the regime a second way to build atomic bombs.

Tuesday's announcement was designed to hurry along negotiations, analysts said.

"North Korea is pressuring the United States to decide quickly whether it wants to resolve the standoff through bilateral talks or allow the (plutonium) to be used for atomic weapons," North Korea expert Koh Yu-hwan of Dongguk University said.