North Korea restarts nuclear reactor

South Korea’s new prime minister said today his country would work with the United States to seek a peaceful resolution to the standoff with North Korea, amid a report that the North has restarted a nuclear reactor.

The report highlighted the challenge from North Korea that South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun, who was inaugurated on Tuesday, faces in the weeks ahead. Roh was preparing to appoint his Cabinet as early as today following the parliamentary approval of prime minister Goh Kun, a 65-year-old former mayor of Seoul.

North Korea reactivated a five-megawatt reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear complex in what could be a first step towards the production of nuclear weapons, US officials said last night. For weeks, there have been conflicting reports about whether the reactor was up and running or not.

The United States believes North Korea already has one or two nuclear bombs.

However, there are no reports that North Korea has restarted a plant at Yongbyon that could be used to extract weapons-grade plutonium from spent fuel rods. Such a move would be far more serious because that process would enable North Korea to make several bombs within months.

Prime minister Goh said he could not confirm the reactor report. Officials at the South Korean foreign ministry said they were trying to confirm it.

Goh said South Korea would maintain close consultations with Washington to try to reach a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear dispute.

“As President Roh Moo-hyun has said, the North Korean nuclear programme is a grave threat to peace in the Korean peninsula and the rest of the world,” Goh said. “One of the top priorities of the new government is to try to end the nuclear issue peacefully, in close co-operation with the United States.”

Goh took office today after the opposition-controlled National Assembly approved his nomination the previous day.

US officials have said they will not be bullied into talks with North Korea, which wants a non-aggression treaty and economic aid from its long-time enemy.

Jiro Okuyama, spokesman for the Japanese foreign ministry, said Japan was analysing reports about the North Korean reactor.

“It is extremely regrettable” if the reports are true, he said.

US intelligence officials in Washington said a tell-tale plume was spotted at the reactor shortly after Secretary of State Colin Powell said Pyongyang had made “a wise choice if it’s a conscious choice” not to restart the reactor.

The reactivation, disclosed by two officials familiar with the North’s military activities, could enable the North Koreans to build a bomb in about a year.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency has referred the North Korean nuclear issue to the United Nations Security Council, which is currently preoccupied with the possibility of a US war against Iraq.

The nuclear crisis flared up in October when the US government said North Korean officials had admitted pursuing a secret nuclear arms programme, a charge later denied by the North.

Washington and its allies cut off oil shipments, and the North responded by saying it would reactivate frozen nuclear facilities, expelling UN monitors and withdrawing from the global Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.