Conflicting Reports Received from South Korea About N. Korean Nuclear Activities
VOA News
14 Jul 2003, 15:07 UTC
There are conflicting reports out of South Korea on whether it believes North Korea has reprocessed spent nuclear fuel that can be used in making weapons.
South Korea's Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan said in a radio interview Monday there is no evidence that Pyongyang has completed or even started reprocessing its old nuclear fuel rods. But the South Korean news agency, Yonhap, on Sunday quoted an aide to former President Kim Dae-jung, Chang Sung-min, who said North Korea has told the United States it has completed the reprocessing.
Last week, a South Korean government report said North Korea had reprocessed a small number of the fuel rods.
The fuel rods are part of a nuclear weapons program that North Korea promised to freeze in a 1994 agreement with the United States.
Reprocessing the fuel rods could allow Pyongyang to add to its nuclear arsenal, which U.S. intelligence experts believe already has one or two nuclear weapons.
North Korea has acknowledged having a secret nuclear program and is demanding one-on-one negotiations with the United States. The Bush administration wants the issue settled in multi-lateral talks involving others in the region.
Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.
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