(2nd LD) N. Korea says it completed reprocessing spent fuel rods

(ATTN: UPDATES lead, 2nd para, ADDS expert's quote at bottom)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Tuesday it has completed reprocessing
spent fuel rods and made "noticeable successes" in weaponizing plutonium
extracted from them in an apparent call for the United States to quickly start
bilateral talks.
The announcement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, came a day
after North Korea warned it would "go its own way" if the U.S. remains
unresponsive.
North Korea "successfully completed the reprocessing of 8,000 spent fuel rods by
the end of August as part of the measure taken to restore the nuclear facilities
in Nyongbyon (Yongbyon) to their original state," the report said.
"Noticeable successes have been made in turning the extracted plutonium
weapon-grade for the purpose of bolstering up the nuclear deterrent in the DPRK
(North Korea)," it added.
The report did not elaborate what the "successes" were.
The Yongbyon complex, some 90km north of Pyongyang, had been mothballed under a
six-nation accord. But Pyongyang said in April that it resumed reprocessing the
spent fuel rods from the nuclear complex, in protest against a punitive U.N.
resolution for its long-range rocket launch earlier that month.
Officials in Seoul said earlier that North Korea has apparently restored the
reprocessing facility at the Yongbyon complex.
"The reprocessing factory appears to have been restored to its earlier
conditions," a senior defense official told Yonhap on Monday, citing satellite
photos that showed a continuous stream of workers in and out of the site in
Yongbyon. Another official said that electricity has been detected being supplied
to the complex on and off over the past few months.
On Monday, North Korea's foreign ministry stressed that "now is the U.S. turn" as
Pyongyang has already expressed its position that bilateral dialogue is a
precondition for the resumption of the six-party talks, which also involve South
Korea, China, Russia, and Japan. Pyongyang quit the multilateral forum in June in
protest against U.N. sanctions imposed on the country for its nuclear test in
May.
After months of provocations, the communist regime has sought to reach out to the
outside world and invited Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special representative for
North Korea policy, to visit Pyongyang.
The U.S. has been cautious, however, pressing the North to return to the
six-party talks.
A rare meeting last week between Ri Gun, the North's deputy nuclear envoy, and
Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy on the six-way talks, in New York and San Diego
raised media speculation that the two sides were fine-tuning conditions for
Bosworth's visit to North Korea. Some media reports have said Bosworth is likely
to visit Pyongyang within the month.
Nuclear scientists believe 8,000 spent fuel rods could give North Korea enough
plutonium to build up to two nuclear bombs.
Experts say North Korea was reminding the U.S. of its nuclear capability as it
demands dialogue.
"To announce now what was done in August means that it has the purpose of
squeezing the U.S. into engaging in dialogue," Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the
University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said. "The more the U.S. delays, the
stronger neo-cons will turn against negotiations within the Obama government."
hkim@yna.co.kr
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