Seoul: N.Korea Halts Nuclear Reactor, Reason Unclear

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5694868&cKey=1113823241000

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has suspended the operation of its nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, a South Korean foreign ministry official said Monday, a move analysts said could beaimed at extracting material for nuclear weapons.

The official said the purpose of the stoppage was unclear,but also said Seoul was treating the suspension as a potentially serious development.

North Korea said explicitly for the first time in February that it possessed nuclear weapons. It has also previously said it had reprocessed nuclear fuel to get weapons-grade plutonium.

South Korean and Japanese media reported at the weekend that North Korea had stopped the reactor in Yongbyon.

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[Jose Diablo]

1. Could be

North Korea could be the fuse that lights the far east on fire. Maybe all those loose dollars will burn-up with the fire.

[Gloria]

2. Posted last night and died....from Asahi Shimbun, Japan... apparently

the reactor was taken off line so that the plutonium can be used to make more bombs!!!!!



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1401993&mesg_id=1401993

N. Korea Shuts Down Nuke Reactor (more bombs)




From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


3//The Asahi Shimbun, Japan 04/18/2005

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY2005041801...



N. KOREA SHUTS DOWN NUKE REACTOR

By Nobuyoshi Sakajiri



WASHINGTON-North Korea has stopped operations at a nuclear reactor at Yongbyon north of Pyongyang, several sources here have confirmed.



The stoppage is likely in preparation for extracting spent fuel rods to reprocess into plutonium, they said.



North Korea resumed operations about two years ago at the nuclear facility, which Pyongyang in 1994 agreed with Washington to halt.



Pyongyang has said it completed the reprocessing of 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, and in February, a senior North Korean official said it had become a ``nuclear power.''



If the 8,000 spent fuel rods are reprocessed, they could produce enough plutonium for about five more nuclear weapons, experts said.



That could double the amount Pyongyang likely already has, which is enough to make four to six weapons, according to some estimates.



Washington confirmed this month that the reactor stopped, based on satellite images of the Yongbyon facility and surrounding areas and on temperature estimates of the facility's concrete walls and of steam emissions, sources said.

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[Roland99]

3. "could be"..."likely"....more like "bushit"