| North Korea preparing to restart atomic facility Pyongyang bars IAEA personnel from N-facility |
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| Written by Harris Badar | |
| Saturday, 11 October 2008 | |
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src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> The North told the International Atomic Energy Agency that it was stop ... VIENNA, Austria: North Korea announced on Thursday that it is preparing to restart the facility that produced its atomic bomb, indicating that it plans to pull out of an international deal to end its nuclear programme. The North told the International Atomic Energy Agency that it was stopping the process of disabling its main nuclear site and completely barring international inspectors from the Yongbyon facility, the agency said. “Since it is preparing to restart the facilities at Yongbyon, the DPRK has informed the IAEA that our monitoring activities would no longer be appropriate,’’ the UN nuclear watchdog said, using the formal acronym for North Korea. It said that Pyongyang “informed IAEA inspectors that immediate access to facilities at Yongbyon would no longer be permitted’’ and “also stated that it has stopped its (nuclear) disablement work.’’ Pyongyang barred agency personnel from the plutonium-reprocessing part of its facility at Yongbyon last month after telling them to remove IAEA seals from the plant in a reversal of its pledge to disable its nuclear programme. But Thursday’s statement was the clearest indication to date that the North planned to abrogate the deal, said a senior diplomat familiar with the statement. The diplomat demanded anonymity because he was not authorised to comment to the media. Still, Pyongyang’s moves also could be a negotiating ploy – the year needed to start its reprocessing plant could be used to wrest more concessions from its interlocutors. The IAEA said its small inspection team would remain on the site until told otherwise by North Korean authorities, and the US State Department said it does not view North Korea’s statement as the end of the six-nation agreement on ending North Korea’s atomic program. “This is a regrettable step, but one that is reversible,’’ State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. North Korea, meanwhile, warned South Korea against sending naval ships into its waters, threatening warfare as it reportedly shifted an arsenal of missiles to a nearby island for more test launches. The warning came hours after a South Korean newspaper reported that a US spy satellite detected signs the North had positioned about 10 missiles near the disputed sea border after test-firing two short-range missiles on Tuesday. The Chosun Ilbo report cited an unidentified South Korean official. Yongbyon, located about 60 miles, north of Pyongyang has three main facilities: a five-megawatt reactor, a plutonium reprocessing plant and a fuel fabrication complex. The reactor is the centre piece of the complex, with the facility stretching more than a mile along the Churyong River, satellite images show. The reprocessing centre to the south of the reactor is capable of extracting weapons-grade plutonium from spent fuel rods. Thousands of them remain in storage but would likely be moved to the reprocessing plant as a next step. South of the reprocessing centre, fuel rods are made from natural uranium in the fuel fabrication complex that lies tucked into a bend in the Churyong River. |
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