North Korea escalates nuclear standoff

NORTH KOREA escalated its nuclear standoff with the US yesterday, declaring that it had solved “all the technological matters” involved in using plutonium extracted from its 8,000 spent fuel rods to build atomic bombs.

The communist state said it had completed reprocessing the rods, and had made a “switchover in the use of plutonium” for increasing its “nuclear deterrent force” against what it calls a US plan to invade. “All the technological matters have been solved fully in the process of making a switchover in the use of plutonium,” said the North’s official news agency, KCNA.

It was impossible to independently verify the claim because North Korea has expelled international inspectors from its nuclear facilities.

“We will maintain and steadily increase our nuclear deterrent force as a self-defensive means to cope with the US’s ever more undisguised threat to mount a pre-emptive nuclear attack,” the North Korean agency said. When reprocessed with chemicals, the 8,000 rods can yield enough plutonium to make five or six bombs, according to experts.

American intelligence analysts believe North Korea already has at least one or two nuclear bombs.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said North Korea’s neighbours should urge Pyongyang “to stop moving in this direction” and to “continue to participate in the diplomacy that is under way.”

“We are examining ways, in co-operation with our colleagues in the area, to provide the kinds of security assurances that might help to move the process further along,” Powell said.

“I believe that this is a matter of the most serious concern for the international community.”

Japan reminded North Korea it promised at a multilateral meeting in Beijing that it wouldn’t escalate the nuclear standoff.

“Considering that, what the North has done is regrettable,” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov urged North Korea not to rule out taking part in another round of talks aimed at easing tension over its nuclear arsenal.

“Any talks are better than war,” Losyukov said.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun called the North’s initial statement about the plutonium “a bombshell announcement”, but appealed for calm.