U.S., South Korea to discuss North's nuclear restart
SEOUL (Reuters) - Nuclear envoys from South Korea and the United States will meet in Beijing on Thursday to discuss North Korea's moves to restart an ageing nuclear plant that makes arms-grade plutonium, South Korean media said.
North Korea has taken out of storage some mothballed equipment at its Soviet-era nuclear complex in what appeared to be a sign of displeasure over sputtering six-way talks on ending its atomic programs, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry late on Wednesday confirmed the North had taken steps to rebuild its Yongbyon nuclear plant and expressed regret over the move.
Last November, North Korea starting taking apart the nuclear plant as a part of a disarmament-for-aid deal. Most of the disablement work has been completed and experts said it would take a year or more for the North to restart Yongbyon.
South Korean nuclear envoy Kim Sook will meet U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill in Beijing on Thursday afternoon, South Korean media quoted a senior Foreign Ministry official as saying. The ministry would not confirm the report.
China has hosted the six-country nuclear talks on ending the atomic ambitions of North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test about two years ago.
U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they viewed North Korea's moves more as a negotiating tactic than genuine effort to rebuild Yongbyon, which proliferation experts believe has produced enough plutonium for six to eight bombs.
A U.S. counter-proliferation official said Washington had seen evidence that some parts had been moved back to their original Yongbyon site but described this as "mostly symbolic, mostly done for effect in response to the negotiations".
"It's a step designed to show that they can take more steps if they want to," said the official. "It doesn't mean that it's not real. It doesn't mean that it's not dangerous. But people shouldn't read too much into it."
North Korea announced on August 26 it would stop disabling the Yongbyon nuclear complex and accused the United States of violating the denuclearization deal negotiated by the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
Pyongyang said the move was a response to Washington's failure to drop it from the U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list. The United States said North Korea must first agree on a system to verify Pyongyang's disclosures about its nuclear programs.
SEOUL (Reuters) - Nuclear envoys from South Korea and the United States will meet in Beijing on Thursday to discuss North Korea's moves to restart an ageing nuclear plant that makes arms-grade plutonium, South Korean media said.
North Korea has taken out of storage some mothballed equipment at its Soviet-era nuclear complex in what appeared to be a sign of displeasure over sputtering six-way talks on ending its atomic programs, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry late on Wednesday confirmed the North had taken steps to rebuild its Yongbyon nuclear plant and expressed regret over the move.
Last November, North Korea starting taking apart the nuclear plant as a part of a disarmament-for-aid deal. Most of the disablement work has been completed and experts said it would take a year or more for the North to restart Yongbyon.
South Korean nuclear envoy Kim Sook will meet U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill in Beijing on Thursday afternoon, South Korean media quoted a senior Foreign Ministry official as saying. The ministry would not confirm the report.
China has hosted the six-country nuclear talks on ending the atomic ambitions of North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test about two years ago.
U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they viewed North Korea's moves more as a negotiating tactic than genuine effort to rebuild Yongbyon, which proliferation experts believe has produced enough plutonium for six to eight bombs.
A U.S. counter-proliferation official said Washington had seen evidence that some parts had been moved back to their original Yongbyon site but described this as "mostly symbolic, mostly done for effect in response to the negotiations".
"It's a step designed to show that they can take more steps if they want to," said the official. "It doesn't mean that it's not real. It doesn't mean that it's not dangerous. But people shouldn't read too much into it."
North Korea announced on August 26 it would stop disabling the Yongbyon nuclear complex and accused the United States of violating the denuclearization deal negotiated by the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
Pyongyang said the move was a response to Washington's failure to drop it from the U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list. The United States said North Korea must first agree on a system to verify Pyongyang's disclosures about its nuclear programs.
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