N. Korea rattles its nuke fuel

NORTH Korea said yesterday that it has reprocessed 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods and extracted enough plutonium to bolster its atomic stockpile, raising the stakes in an apparent effort to push the United States into direct negotiations.

Reprocessing the spent fuel rods would give North Korea enough weapons-grade plutonium for at least one more atomic bomb, experts said.

Pyongyang is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for half a dozen nuclear weapons.

North Korea warned the US on Monday that it would beef up its nuclear stockpile if Washington refuses to hold bilateral talks.

It has demanded direct talks with the US to resolve the protracted standoff over its nuclear program.

The US has said it is willing to meet one-on-one with North Korea if the talks lead to the resumption of six-nation negotiations involving China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Russia and America. Discussions between a North Korean envoy and a US official last week did not yield an agreement to hold talks, both sides said.

On Monday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry warned, "If the US 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 said 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," North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said yesterday.

The report cited "noticeable success" in weaponizing plutonium "for the purpose of bolstering up the nuclear deterrent."

Email Story    Printable View    Blog Story    Copy Headline/URL