N. Korea removes over 75 pct of used fuel rods: U.S. report

SEOUL, March 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has removed more than 75 percent of the used fuel rods at its atomic facilities, a U.S. report showed Sunday, a sign that progress has been made towards denuclearization despite hang-ups in multilateral talks.

According to the report by the Congressional Research Service, the North has
removed 6,100 out of 8,000 used fuel rods as of the end of February with efforts
underway to fully disable nuclear facilities at its Yongbyon complex.
The report comes as the six-party talks on the North's atomic programs have been
stalled since December, when North Korea refused to agree to a verification
protocol for its nuclear facilities.
Tensions have mounted on the Korean Peninsula since Pyongyang said it will launch
a "satellite" early next month, a move that neighboring countries suspect is a
ruse to test-fire a missile.
The communist country on Friday again sealed the border crossing to an
inter-Korean industrial park, the second time in a week. Hundreds of South Korean
workers remained stranded at the complex, and the cross-border delivery of goods
and raw materials has also been suspended.
Despite these developments, the report noted that progress has been made in
disabling nuclear facilities.
South Korean officials visited the North in January to discuss purchasing unused
fuel rods but failed to reach an agreement, the report noted, adding the
destruction of the rods will not begin until all of the spent ones are removed.
Removing the rods is one of the few remaining steps that Pyongyang has to take to
disable the Yongbyon complex under a 2007 aid-for-denuclearization deal with the
other six-party members -- South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and
Japan.
(END)