- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
spy satellites show North Korea is moving fuel rods around a key nuclear
complex but there is no sign that reprocessing -- which is critical to
making bombs -- has begun, American officials said on Friday.
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- Even as they try to keep the North Korea crisis on a
diplomatic track, Bush administration officials seem increasingly convinced
that Pyongyang is determined to launch full-scale production of nuclear
weapons -- an ominous development especially as Washington moves toward
war with Iraq.
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- As there has been for the last month, "there is
still activity around Yongbyon, some of it associated with the reactor,
an immediate thing that's not as bad as reprocessing but still isn't good,"
a senior official told Reuters.
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- "I don't discount that they might begin reprocessing
in the next month or do another missile launch," but there are no
signs of preparations for such a test, he said.
-
- Another official told Reuters Yongbyon is "bustling
with activity. There are canisters and vehicles moving about. It's hard
to rule in or out that spent fuel rods are on the move but it's certainly
plausible."
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- U.S. officials in recent weeks have detected that North
Korea had moved quantities of fresh fuel rods to the area of a nuclear
reactor at Yongbyon. It is in the reactor where the unused uranium fuel
rods are converted to plutonium.
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- On Friday, there were mixed reports about whether Pyongyang
had taken a more significant step and begun moving 8,000 spent fuel rods
-- which have already gone through the reactor -- from a holding pond where
they had been mothballed under a 1994 agreement with the United States.
-
- In the nuclear process, spent fuel rods go through a
reprocessing facility where the plutonium is extracted to become fuel for
nuclear weapons.
- SPENT FUEL 'POSSIBLY' MOVED
-
- Fresh fuel rods "probably" have been moved
at Yongbyon and spent fuel rods "possibly" have been moved, said
one official, noting that intelligence is not clear-cut.
-
- But another official said he believes the spent fuel
rods are still in the cooling pond.
-
- Faced with media reports on the Yongbyon activities,
the Bush administration -- which has tried to put the issue on the back
burner as it concentrates on Iraq -- warned North Korea against taking
any steps to reprocess plutonium.
-
- "Any steps toward beginning reprocessing would be
yet another provocative action by North Korea intended to intimidate and
blackmail the international community," presidential spokesman Ari
Fleischer told reporters.
-
- Fleischer declined to comment on a New York Times report
that the stockpile of 8,000 spent fuel rods was being moved.
-
- Absent from the spokesman's comments was any threat of
military action if North Korea crosses what experts consider a red line
and begins reprocessing the 8,000 spent fuel rods.
-
- The Clinton administration developed plans for a strike
against the Yongbyon complex if diplomacy failed during the previous nuclear
crisis with North Korea in 1994.
-
- DIPLOMATIC FOCUS
-
- But President Bush, aware of the extreme risk of such
action and determined to stay focus on Iraq, has decided to emphasize a
commitment to a diplomatic solution.
-
- "The United States has no intention of attacking
North Korea," Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a speech on
Friday. "President Bush has made this clear, and we are prepared to
convey this assurance to North Korea in a way that makes sense and that
is unmistakable."
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- While Bush has promised not to invade North Korea, experts
say he has not ruled out military action.
-
- U.S. intelligence estimates North Korea produced enough
plutonium for one to three nuclear weapons before the Yongbyon facility
was mothballed as part of the now defunct Agreed Framework signed with
the United States in 1994.
-
- The current stockpile is enough for about six more.
-
- Pentagon officials described Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld as being "immersed" in the North Korea crisis despite
his responsibilities for possible war with Iraq.
-
- This week he held talks with Gen. Leon LaPorte, the commander
of American forces in South Korea.
-
- Officials said Rumsfeld has been reviewing military options
on North Korea.
-
- "Certainly there's a lot of interest by him and
senior leadership in just having the knowledge and knowing what our options
are at any stage in the game ... It doesn't mean serious consideration
is being given to using them. We plan for a lot of things," one official
said.
-
- "In this case, it's been made clear that the administration
has decided to handle this diplomatically so any talk of military action
has been just that -- talk," he said.
-
- On Friday, Fleischer reaffirmed U.S. support for bringing
the North Korea issue to the U.N. Security Council.
-
- Since December, North Korea has expelled U.N. nuclear
inspectors, withdrawn from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, restarted
Yongbyon and threatened to resume missile tests.
-
- The crisis was sparked in October 2002 when the United
States said Pyongyang admitted to developing a highly enriched uranium
program in violation of the 1994 accord, under which the North froze its
nuclear program in exchange for two nuclear energy reactors and economic
assistance.
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- Also Friday, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said
he would recommend that the security council, which has the power to approve
economic sanctions, get involved in the stand-off.
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