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Satellite Imagery Indicates Modest Increase in North Korean Activity at Yongbyon Nuclear Site
Recent satellite images indicate that North Korea has resumed construction work at a 50-megawatt reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, Reuters reported today (see GSN, Sept. 14). The photographs, obtained by the Institute for Science and International Security from a commercial satellite firm, also appear to confirm reports that Pyongyang has refueled a smaller plutonium-producing reactor at the complex, said analyst Corey Hinderstein. Construction on the larger reactor stopped when the United States offered backing for a light-water reactor project in a 1994 agreement. The agreement was rescinded nearly a decade later. “For the first time since the 1994 Agreed Framework froze construction, we saw some new activity at the 50-megawatt reactor site,” Hinderstein said. That includes access road work and possibly a mobile crane. “It’s not indicative of full-scale construction” (Reuters/RedNova.com, Sept. 15). Meanwhile, the chief U.S. envoy to six-nation negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear program today urged Pyongyang to accept an offer already on the table, Agence France-Presse reported. “We have a pretty good deal on the table,” said Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, before attending another negotiating session with lead North Korean negotiator Kim Kye Gwan on the sidelines of the talks in Beijing. “The deal consists of really a lot of what the D.P.R.K. should want — security guarantees, a recognition package, access to international financial institutions, a very serious energy package,” Hill said. “If their concern is electricity, there is a very generous electricity package here. If their concern is something else, they ought to tell us what that is,” Hill said. “A light-water reactor for us is a nonstarter.” Japan’s top envoy also dismissed the idea of a light-water reactor at this time. “Basically, what is important is that North Korea commits itself to abandoning all of its nuclear programs and restoring its credibility as a precondition,” said Kenichiro Sasae (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Sept. 15). Nuclear and economic experts, however, questioned the practical aspects of such an ambitious project for impoverished North Korea, Reuters reported. Even with outside assistance in constructing a nuclear energy plant, according to Reuters, Pyongyang would be unable to connect new nuclear plants to its aging power grid. “North Korea has no money, no technology and no modern power grid,” said Kim Kyoung-sool, an economist who specializes in North Korean energy policy at Seoul’s Korea Energy Economics Institute. Kim estimated the cost of building a modern nuclear power plant with a 1,000-megawatt capacity at $2 billion to $3 billion, a massive expenditure for a country with an income of some $20.8 billion last year (Park/Herskovitz, Reuters, Sept. 15). Russia, meanwhile, has indicated willingness to construct a nuclear reactor for North Korea, sources close to the talks told the Kyodo news agency yesterday (Kyodo/BBC Monitoring, Sept. 14).
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