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North Korea: U.S. Satellites See Signs of Plutonium Reprocessing The United States has detected smoke coming from a North Korean nuclear facility, which could be a sign that Pyongyang has begun reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods, a South Korean official said today (see GSN, May 7). U.S. officials have provided South Korea with a satellite photograph of the smoke plume, the Associated Press reported. Intelligence officials have not detected other signs of reprocessing, such as chemical traces or heat releases, according to the official (Daniel Cooney, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, May 8). “We don’t have confirmation that they are reprocessing on a large scale,” but small scale reprocessing is possible, a senior U.S. intelligence official said (David Sanger, New York Times, May 8). “It is true that signs have been detected in late April, but no additional activities or unusual movement had been confirmed since,” the South Korean official said (Cooney, Associated Press/Yahoo!News). Top White House foreign policy advisers met yesterday to discuss the next U.S. move in the Korean nuclear crisis, and officials said the United States would probably meet with North Korean officials for another round of talks despite the reprocessing activity, the New York Times reported. Officials previously did not believe North Korean reprocessing had begun, but the reassessment came after national security adviser Condoleezza Rice ordered an intelligence review, which was delivered to the White House in mid-April, according to the Times. The new information will probably change U.S. President George W. Bush’s approach to the crisis, the Times reported. “It means we don’t have forever to solve this problem,” a senior U.S. official said (Sanger, New York Times). Japan Contemplated Pre-Emptive Attack Ten years ago, Japanese officials examined the possibility of a pre-emptive air attack on a North Korean military facility to prevent a missile attack, Agence France-Presse reported today. The study was conducted after Pyongyang launched a missile into the Sea of Japan, but was scuttled after Japanese officials agreed that they did not have the proper aircraft at their disposal to achieve success in the mission (Agence France-Presse/Hindustan Times, May 8).
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