Allies Seek to Verify NK Nuke Claims
2003-10-04
The government has set about the task of verifying North Korea's latest bombshell claim that it is making nuclear weapons with plutonium extracted from spent fuel rods.
Foreign Affairs-Trade and Defense Ministry officials said they are working the diplomatic channels and comparing intelligence with the United States and Japan to check the authenticity of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's statement Thursday.
Seoul officials are mostly of the opinion that reprocessing all 8,000 irradiated fuel rods at the North's Yeongbyeon nuke site _ which inevitably emits krypton 85 gases and a large amount of steam and heat _ would not have escaped detection by South Korean and U.S. intelligence.
“Although there's nothing much new in the North Korean claim, our intelligence is closely working with U.S. counterparts to find out the exact state of North Korea's nuclear activities,” a Defense Ministry official said.
Still, officials said they are working based on the worst-case scenario that the latest North Korean claim is true, as Pyongyang has steadily reported progress in its nuclear weapons program this year.
“We are open to all possibilities,” a Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry official said. “It will take some time for us to figure out truly what happened, as there are few means for us to check up on North Korean progress.”
At an emergency working-level National Security Council meeting convened Thursday afternoon, participants discussed the likely repercussions on inter-Korean relations and the next round of six-way talks.
Source : www.korea.net
