Steve Quayle News Alerts

January 31, 2003
By Guy Dinmore in Washington, Andrew Ward in Seoul and Stephen Fidler in London

The US on Friday warned North Korea not to take "another provocative action" after satellite photographs indicated the communist state might be about to produce the plutonium for several nuclear bombs.

Spy pictures revealing activity at the Yongbyon nuclear facility delivered a stark reminder to George W. Bush, the US president, and Tony Blair, UK prime minister, meeting in Washington on Friday night, that North Korea could be just months away from developing its nuclear arsenal, while they were discussing invasion plans for Iraq.

There is mounting US concern that Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, believes that, while the US and its allies are tied up with Iraq, he has a chance to push on with his nuclear ambitions and develop a stronger negotiating position.

US officials confirmed reports that spy satellites detected covered trucks at the Yongbyon plant apparently loading material from a nuclear storage facility holding 8,000 spent fuel rods.

North Korea expelled UN nuclear inspectors and removed their cameras and seals from Yongbyon in December, announcing it would restart the reactor for civilian purposes - after the US decision to halt crucial supplies of fuel oil. The US decision followed its discovery that North Korea had a secret uranium enrichment programme.

If North Korea has taken the fuel rods from storage, where they were kept under a 1994 agreement with the US, it could be about to activate a reprocessing plant which could extract enough plutonium for about six nuclear bombs.

Ari Fleischer, White House spokesman, told reporters: "Any step towards beginning reprocessing would be yet another provocative action by North Korea intended to intimidate and blackmail the international community" - although he did not confirm movement of the rods.

He said: "Any such step would have the effect of further isolating North Korea from the international community, which is united in seeking a peaceful solution of the current situation."

The warning of further isolation, tempered by a statement of peaceful purpose, repeats Mr Bush's message in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

North Korea's neighbours are opposed to any attempt by the US to secure a UN Security Council resolution that would threaten sanctions against North Korea for breaching the Nuclear Non-proliferation treaty, from which Pyongyang withdrew last month.

North Korea called Mr Bush's speech an "undisguised declaration of aggression" and has warned that imposition of UN sanctions would amount to a declaration of war. On Friday it again warned the US not to "internationalise" the dispute, calling for bilateral talks. "The only solution to the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula is a non-aggression pact [with the US]," said Choe Jin-su, North Korea's envoy in Beijing.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he would recommend to the board of the UN watchdog that North Korea should be referred to the Security Council. The IAEA may meet on February 12, two days before Mr ElBaradei is due to present his next report on Iraq to the UN.

Mr Blair, arriving in Washington for the "council of war" with Mr Bush, said conflict with Iraq now might avoid a far more bloody battle later. He said: "I don't want to send anyone off to war. But I don't want to be in a position where, as a result of weakness now, I get into a far more bloody conflict at some future time."

Asked directly if he wanted a second UN resolution authorising military action, the prime minister replied: "Absolutely. I think it's right we go for a second resolution because that's a way of saying this is an issue the international community is not going to duck."

Additional reporting by James Blitz

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