NORTH KOREA: North Korea, which is reported to have fired up a key nuclear reactor, now looks set to raise tensions further by preparing to start reprocessing plutonium and test a ballistic missile, officials and reports said yesterday.
As South Korea's new government expressed worries about suspect activity at the Yongbyon reactor, reports from Tokyo and Washington indicated the North might be moving to cross what experts call critical "red lines" in the nuclear standoff.
In Washington, US officials and congressional sources said on Thursday that North Korea was continuing to prepare a spent fuel reprocessing plant and could have it operating as a source of weapons-grade plutonium within a month.
Pyongyang's apparent determination to revive a fully operational nuclear arms programme is a huge headache for the Bush administration, which is on the verge of war with Iraq and has tried to avert a confrontation with North Korea.
Although the diplomatic tensions are apparently unnoticed on the streets of South Korea, the nuclear developments are likely to increase the drumbeat of calls from Seoul, Beijing and Moscow for the US to talk directly to North Korea. Washington has resisted this in favour of multilateral diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang.
The Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, offered a rare criticism of old ally North Korea yesterday. Asked about fresh signs of North Korean brinkmanship, he told reporters in Beijing: "We think threatening methods are not a solution to the problem."
Japan's defence minister, Mr Shigeru Ishiba, said Japan did not believe North Korea was about to launch a ballistic missile.
- (Reuters)