US issues stark warning on North Korea

The United States has issued a stark warning that North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme could be much further advanced than had been thought.

Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly said Pyongyang’s uranium enrichment programme could be just months away from producing weapons grade material.

He said talks between the US and North Korean officials could not resume until the reclusive communist regime agrees to eliminate all its nuclear weapons programmes – and also meets US requirements in four other areas.

North Korea has re-activated its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and could soon be reprocessing nuclear fuel into plutonium – another way of making nuclear bombs.

While Kelly said it should abandon its nuclear ambitions, it must also protect human rights, he said, address American concerns about terrorism, stop exporting missiles and reduce the size of its conventional forces that target South Korea.

Only then would the US be willing to take steps to “improve the lives of the North Korean people” and to establish normal relations, Kelly said.

There is a sense of urgency because the North, already believed to have one or two nuclear weapons, could have several more by summer if it begins reprocessing existing stocks of plutonium.

By restarting the Yongbyon reactor two weeks ago, the North is in position to accumulate additional plutonium supplies which could lead to nuclear weapons.

“We have to solve all of the nuclear problem, and the element of speed doesn’t only apply to the plutonium issue,” Kelly said, speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“The enriched-uranium issue, some have assumed, is somewhere off in the fog of the distant future. It is not,” Kelly said. “It is only probably a matter of months, and not years, behind the plutonium.”

While ruling out negotiations for the time being, Kelly left open the possibility of direct talks – but said he held out little hope that Pyongyang would meet US disarmament demands.

“There is not the slightest sign they have any interest in stopping,” he said.

Several senators, including committee chairman Richard Lugar, urged that Washington meet one on one with Pyongyang, consistent with a long-standing North Korean proposal.

Lugar said it was “vital that the United States be open to bilateral diplomatic opportunities that could be useful in reversing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.”

Kelly said past experience has shown that a bilateral approach will not work.

“We are moving forward with a plan for multilateral talks rather than bilateral talks to resolve this issue,” he said.

After initial resistance, Kelly suggested there now is greater acceptance of a multilateral approach by countries in the region.

The US wants to enlist Japan, China, South Korea and Russia and perhaps other countries in a diplomatic initiative with the communist country.