New Activity Seen at North Korean Reactor

Heightened activity at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear reactor could indicate preparations to close the facility, as required under an agreement reached at six-party talks in February, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, April 16).

Satellite photographs recorded increased movement of vehicles and people at the reactor, which continued to operate, an unidentified intelligence official told the Yonhap News Agency.

South Korean intelligence has been “following and analyzing some peculiar movements” at the site, an official told AP.

Some movements have been under U.S. and South Korean monitoring for a month.

“The intensity of these activities has increased from about a week or two ago,” another official told Yonhap.  “There are activities other than cars and people moving busily.”

Pyongyang agreed Feb. 13 to begin denuclearization by halting work at Yongbyon and by allowing international nuclear inspectors back into the nation.  Progress has been delayed by North Korea’s demand that it first receive $25 million in frozen funds from Banco Delta Asia in Macau.

U.S. officials said last week the money had been released.  Bank owner Stanley Au confirmed that claim, but said North Korea had not collected the money “because they cannot transfer the money out.”

“There are no banks accepting the so-called black money” which has been linked to illicit North Korean financial activity, Au said.  “The only thing they can do at the moment is to take the money in bank notes out of the bank” (Bo-Mi Lim, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, April 17).

A Russian official yesterday blamed the United States holding up the transfer of funds, and thus delaying resolution to the nuclear crisis, Agence France-Presse reported.

Washington is “not removing the obstacles to using this money and this is creating problems.  We cannot move forward as long as the North Korean side says that it has not received the money,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, according to Interfax (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, April 16).

The United States rejected that claim, AFP reported.

“It’s clear that this is an issue with the North Koreans and their banker,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.  “The ball is in the North Koreans’ court and we’ll see what they do” (Philippe Agret, Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, April 16).

Meanwhile, 31 nations have enacted economic sanctions against North Korea called for in a U.N. Security Council resolution, Kyodo News reported.  Another 27 nations are preparing punitive legislation, and 10 are considering the matter, said Italian Ambassador to the United Nations Marcello Spatafora, chairman of the council Sanctions Committee.

The resolution followed Pyongyang’s Oct. 9 nuclear test (Kyodo News/Yahoo!News, April 16).

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