Data Suggests N.Korea Moving Rods

January 31, 2003
By Walter Pincus, Washington Post Staff Writer

U.S. intelligence satellites have seen signs this month that North Korea may have begun moving nuclear fuel rods from storage in a step that could lead to reopening production of weapons-grade plutonium for nuclear weapons, senior administration sources said last night.

"We are not entirely sure what is going on," one official said in confirming that spy satellites have observed truck movements at Pyongyang's Yongbyon nuclear complex near the pond where the plutonium rods have been stored as part of a 1994 agreement with the Clinton administration. Under the accord, North Korea agreed to freeze its production of weapons-grade plutonium. Word of the satellite intelligence was first reported last night by the New York Times.

If North Korea does go ahead with reprocessing, it could produce enough plutonium from the 8,000 rods in storage to fashion six to eight nuclear weapons, according to government sources. CIA analysts said last month that they expected the government of Kim Jong Il to go ahead with initial plutonium production no matter what diplomatic agreements eventually are worked out.

The agency believes that Pyongyang had already obtained enough plutonium before the 1994 agreement to produce one or possibly two nuclear weapons, but it has never confirmed the weapons were built.


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