Global Security Newswire

North Korea announced Saturday that it had resumed production of weapon-grade plutonium through processing of spent nuclear reactor fuel rods, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, April 24).

"The reprocessing of spent fuel rods from the pilot atomic power plant began as declared in the Foreign Ministry statement dated April 14," a ministry spokesman told state media. "This will contribute to bolstering the nuclear deterrence for self-defense in every way to cope with the increasing military threats from the hostile forces."

Pyongyang on April 14 responded to the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its recent rocket launch by pledging to resume nuclear operations, saying it would no longer participate in the six-nation talks on dismantling its nuclear program, and ejecting all U.S. and U.N. monitors from the nation.

It would need between three and four months to fully reprocess the estimated 8,000 rods extracted from the nuclear reactor at its Yongbyon complex, observers said. The 13 to 18 pounds of plutonium would be enough for one to two weapons, said South Korean academic Yang Moo-jin.

North Korea is believed to have declared an existing plutonium stockpile that would be sufficient for between six and eight weapons. It tested one bomb in October 2006 (Park Chang-kyong, Agence France-Presse I, April 25).

The United States quickly responded to the announcement from the Asian nation, AFP reported.

"We will not accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state," said State Department spokeswoman Megan Mattson.

"The United States remains committed to the six-party goal of the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner through the six-party talks," she said.

Washington will continue "to seek full implementation of the Sept. 19, 2005, joint statement under which North Korea committed to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and return, at an early date, to the Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to [International Atomic Energy Agency] safeguards," Mattson added (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, April 25).

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday that "we're not going to be blackmailed by the North Koreans," Reuters reported. She said the regime would face greater sanctions to ensure it does not spread its nuclear technology to other nations.

"We're going to crack down in conjunction with the Chinese, the Russians, the Japanese, the South Koreans and other allies to try to ... tighten the band around North Korea so that they cannot do that," Clinton told Fox News (Kim/Herskovitz, Reuters/Washington Post, April 25).

"As of right now, we don't have any evidence" of ongoing proliferation activities, she added. "But we don't get satisfied by that. Because we consider North Korea to be a rogue regime that has in the past aided and abetted rogue regimes as well. And one of our highest priorities is to keep nuclear materials out of terrorist networks" (Agence France-Presse III/Spacewar.com, April 25).

The Security Council's sanctions panel on Friday agreed on three North Korean companies that will face economic penalties for supporting the nation's ballistic missile activities. U.N. nations would be required to freeze any assets they hold belonging to the Korea Mining Development Co., Korea Ryongbong General Corp. and the Tanchon Commercial Bank.

"This update includes some of the latest technologies relevant to ballistic missile programs. The committee has also agreed to designate three entities to be subject to the measures, namely an asset freeze," said Turkish Ambassador Baki Ilkin.

The sanctions were authorized under a 2006 Security Council resolution issued in the wake of the regime's nuclear and missile tests (John Heilprin, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, April 25).