Washington suspects North Korea is pushing to build a half dozen nuclear weapons, but U.S. President George W. Bush has few options to counter the effort, the Washington Post reported Friday (see GSN, Jan. 31).

The suspicion follows recent reports that Pyongyang is moving spent fuel rods from storage at Yongbyon and could attempt to separate the plutonium in the rods.

“Any movement of the spent fuel rods at Yongbyon would be a very serious development for the international community,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.  “It would be another step in the wrong direction by North Korea,” he added.

In closed congressional intelligence hearings, administration officials have said Pyongyang is making definite moves to develop nuclear capability, according to the Post.  The Bush administration has said it will not enter into talks with North Korea until Pyongyang abandons its nuclear aspirations.

“The ball’s in their court,” a senior administration official said.  “We are looking for a fundamental change in North Korea’s behavior,” the official added.

Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, recently requested aircraft reinforcements to compensate for the potential deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk to the Persian Gulf, the Post reported.  Fargo asked for two dozen long-range bombers to be stationed in Guam as well as eight F-15E fighter-bombers and several reconnaissance planes to be sent to Japan and South Korea.

U.S. defense officials said the request — which is being considered — was not linked to the latest intelligence reports on the spent fuel rods (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Feb. 1).

2001 Report Revealed Nuclear Work

In November 2001, officials at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California completed a report alleging that North Korea was developing a secret uranium enrichment program, but the Bush administration did not confront Pyongyang with the evidence until October 2002, the Post reported.

“No one focused on it because of 9/11,” said a Livermore official.

The Livermore findings were confirmed in a June 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, a major report that pools the information of several intelligence agencies, but administration officials did not make the account available until after Congress passed a resolution authorizing Bush to use force against Iraq, the Post reported.

White House officials denied withholding intelligence for political reasons (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, Feb. 1).

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