Nkorea to restart obsolete nuke reactor

REUTERS

SEOUL: North Korea announced plans today to restart a mothballed nuclear reactor that has been closed since 2007, but emphasised it was seeking a deterrent capacity, rather than repeating recent threats to attack South Korea and the United States.

The state-owned KCNA news agency said North Korea would

restart all nuclear facilities for both electricity and military uses.

The announcement came amid soaring tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the US bolstered its forces in the region after a series of threats by Pyongyang.

North Korea conducted its third nuclear test in February but is believed to be some years away from developing nuclear weapons.

A speech by the North’s young leader Kim Jong-un, delivered on Sunday appeared to dial down the prospects of a direct confrontation with the United States as he stressed that nuclear weapons would ensure the country’s safety as a deterrent.

“Our nuclear strength is a reliable war deterrent and a guarantee to protect our sovereignty,” Kim said. “It is on the basis of a strong nuclear strength that peace and prosperity can exist.”

Kim’s speech, delivered to the central committee meeting of the ruling Workers Party of Korea, appeared to signal a small shift from threats against South Korea and the US.

But if Pyongyang follows through with its plan to restart the nuclear facilities, it will have long-term security implications for the region. Reactivating the aged Soviet-era reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear plant will produce plutonium, a tested path to acquire more fissile material than a uranium enrichment programme. “It was a reactor that was nearing obsolescence with a cooling tower that wasn’t functioning properly when it was blown up. It could mean they’ve been rebuilding quite a few things,” said Yoo Ho-yeol, North Korea specialist at Korea University in Seoul.

The move to restart the reactor comes as a big blow to China’s stated aim of restarting de-nuclearisation talks on the Korean peninsula, prompting a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing to express regret at the decision. As well as restarting the 5MW reactor at Yongbyon, the North’s only known source of plutonium for its nuclear weapons programme, KCNA said a uranium enrichment plant would also be put back into operation. The nuclear plant’s output would be used to solve what KCNA termed an “acute shortage of electricity” and to bolster “the nuclear armed force”.

Ban wants negotiations

ANDORA: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday that the crisis over North Korea had gone too far and urged dialogue to resolve the situation. “Nuclear threats are not a game. Aggressive rhetoric and military posturing only result in counter-actions, and fuel fear and instability,” Ban said at a news conference in Andora. Earlier on Tuesday, North Korea’s leader appeared to tamp down hostile rhetoric that had threatened impending war with the US and South Korea. The US has bolstered its forces in the region after a series of threats by Pyongyang to attack US bases in the Pacific and to invade South Korea. “Things must calm down, as this situation could lead down a path that nobody should want to follow,” Ban said, offering to help the parties to begin talks. He also called on North Korean authorities to abide by resolutions from the United Nations Security Council.