|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
North Korea: Pyongyang Could Begin Immediate Weapons Production, CIA Says A CIA report says North Korea could begin producing weapon-grade uranium by 2005 and could use existing plutonium stockpiles to begin producing nuclear weapons immediately, the Washington Times reported today (see GSN, Nov. 21). “We recently learned that the North is constructing a plant that could produce enough weapons-grade uranium for two or more nuclear weapons per year when fully operational — which could be as soon as mid-decade,” the report says. North Korea also has the capability to immediately produce several plutonium-based nuclear weapons if the 1994 Agreed Framework were to end, the report says. By reprocessing spent nuclear fuel stored at Yongbyon, the site of the country’s previous suspected weapons efforts, Pyongyang could recover enough plutonium for several weapons. If North Korea chose to complete two reactors at Yongbyon, it could make enough plutonium for 55 weapons per year, the Times reported. The CIA report indicates that North Korea would not be able to begin rapid production of nuclear weapons for at least five years after an end to the framework, said Henry Sokolski, director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. “The North Koreans cannot break out with a large amount of plutonium bombs very quickly beyond what they already have,” he said. The report also indicates, however, that a more broad-based approach than the framework is needed to resolve the nuclear issue, Sokolski said. “All this suggests that trying to fine-tune an agreement for plutonium or uranium is a mistake,” Sokolski said. “We’ve got to change the regime,” he said (Bill Gertz, Washington Times, Nov. 22). North Korea Says No to KEDO Meanwhile, North Korea has canceled a visit by Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization officials scheduled for next week to verify the use of a heavy fuel oil shipment, a South Korean source said today. Pyongyang’s decision to cancel the KEDO visit can be seen as retaliation for the organization’s decision to suspend all future oil shipments, which was a provision in the framework, observers said (see GSN, Nov. 15). “North Korea notified the decision to a KEDO office in New York, and I think this is a reaction to KEDO’s decision to halt oil deliveries,” the source said. “The North is making a retort to KEDO’s decision, but I don’t think the reaction is drastic,” an analyst said (Seo Hyun-jin, Korea Herald, Nov. 23). For further information, see:
| ||||||||||
Back to top
