South Korea said yesterday it suspects the North has been secretly enriching uranium at more locations besides its main nuclear site — which could mean it has more material for building nuclear bombs.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said he could not confirm a media report that Pyongyang had three to four plants to enrich uranium, but he suspected there were facilities in the North in addition to the Yongbyon nuclear complex.
“It is a report based on what is still intelligence and let me just say that we have been following this issue for some time,” he told a press briefing.
The prospect of more plants capable of producing materials that could be used in a nuclear weapons program raises the risk that North Korea expands its nuclear plans as it seeks to wrest concessions and aid from restarting disarmament talks.
Last month, North Korea shelled an island close to a disputed maritime boundary with the South, killing four people and prompting the US to send an aircraft carrier to join military drills with South Korea in a show of strength.
“Our policies have failed,” said Hajime Izumi of Shizuoka Prefectural University in Japan. “The situation has caught fire and we are watching it burn.”
US nuclear expert Siegfried Hecker, who visited Yongbyon last month, had already raised concerns that the North had alternative sites for uranium enrichment.
Amid the rising tensions, South Korea’s army chief resigned yesterday over a controversial property investment.
The departure of General Hwang Eui-don is a further blow to the South’s military, widely criticized for a perceived feeble response to the North’s bombardment, which triggered international alarm.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a meeting on Monday with his visiting North Korean counterpart Pak Ui-chun, expressed “deep concern” about the North Korea’s new nuclear capability, Moscow’s foreign -ministry said.
Hwang stepped down following media reports that he had profited unfairly from the property deal, a claim he denies, but he judged it inappropriate to stay in his post at a time when he must lead reform of the army, a defense ministry spokesman told reporters.
Russia has put its forces on alert in the country’s far east because of the increased in tensions, the Interfax news agency quoted Russia’s top military commander as saying yesterday.
“Without a doubt, we have taken measures to increase the combat-readiness of our forces,” Interfax quoted military General Staff chief Nikolai Makarov as saying.
He said the military was “continuing to monitor” the situation.
Russia shares a short border with North Korea and has expressed concern over its nuclear and missile tests.
On Monday, Lavrov told Pak that Pyongyang’s deadly shelling of a South Korean island last month deserved condemnation, but also suggested joint South Korean-US military exercises had added to tension.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu (姜瑜) told reporters that the senior Chinese envoy to North Korea, Dai Bingguo (戴秉國), had agreed in talks in Pyongyang that nuclear negotiations needed to resume.
“Both agreed that all sides should exercise calm and restraint, and maintain a responsible attitude to prevent tensions from escalating, playing a positive role in preserving the peace and stability of the peninsula,” Jiang said.
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