North Korea continues to do what it does best — keep everyone guessing:
WASHINGTON, D.C.- Jack Pritchard, the former Defense Department special envoy for negotiations with North Korea, said that for the first time, it has been confirmed with the naked eye that 8,000 spent fuel rods, which can be turned into weapons-grade plutonium, have disappeared from facilities sealed by the IAEA, and the 5 MW reactor is in full operation. This is amplifying once again controversy over the current level of development of the North Korean nuclear program.
Pritchard conveyed that Kim Gye-gwan, North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister, said that the rods were reprocessed between January and June of last year. If all 8,000 rods are reprocessed, it produces 25~30 kg of plutonium, enough for five nuclear devices, and if the 5 MW reactor is in full operation, North Korea can obtain another 6 kg of additional plutonium annually. Pritchard said, however, that when he visited the reprocessing facility, it was not in operation, and it was difficult to judge whether or not North Korean claims of having reprocessed all the spent rods were true.
North Korea also denied having a uranium enrichment program, which means absolutely nothing, because I can remember when the North was claiming that their nuclear program was for peaceful purposes only.
Anyway, the game continues.
