North Korea Advancing Nuclear Program

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Wednesday it had taken steps that could allow it to harvest more plutonium for atomic bombs and that it would bolster its arsenal, the communist country’s latest provocation amid deadlocked talks over its nuclear program.

A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said the country had removed 8,000 fuel rods from the reactor at its main nuclear complex at Yongbyon, 50 miles north of Pyongyang. North Korea kicked out international nuclear inspectors in late 2002, making it impossible to verify the claim.

If reprocessed, the rods could, after several months, yield enough plutonium for a couple of nuclear bombs, South Korean media reported. The North claimed in February to have nuclear weapons, and the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said recently the North previously had enough plutonium for up to six nuclear bombs.

The move comes amid rising international speculation about a possible North Korean nuclear test. U.S. officials said last week that spy satellites looking at northeastern Kilju saw tunnel digging and the construction of a reviewing stand – possible indications of a test.

On Tuesday, China rejected using sanctions to prod North Korea to return to six-nation talks on its nuclear ambitions, with a spokesman saying Beijing’s political and trade relations with its neighbor should be kept separate.

The statement by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao came as a Bush administration official said the United States has asked Beijing to redouble its efforts to lure North Korea back to the negotiations. Three rounds of talks including China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States haven’t led to any breakthroughs.

The Bush administration is depending heavily on China to rescue a faltering diplomatic effort to negotiate an end to the dispute but has suggested no specific pressure tactics to Beijing, senior U.S. officials said Wednesday.

"We have normal bilateral relations" with North Korea, the Chinese Embassy spokesman, Maoming Chu, said in Washington. "We don’t try to solve problems through pressure or sanctions."

The U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were unable to verify China has dismissed the idea of sanctions to pressure North Korea.

The Washington Post reported last week that China had turned down a U.S. request to pressure North Korea to return to nuclear disarmament talks by cutting off oil supplies.

On Tuesday, the North’s main newspaper alleged the United States was making a "fuss" by spreading reports of the alleged test preparations. However, the commentary in the state-run Rodong Sinmun daily didn’t deny the North was planning a test.

North Korea issues daily warnings to its citizens of the alleged threat of invasion by the United States, and since June 2004 has refused to return to the disarmament talks, citing Washington’s "hostile" policy. The United States has repeatedly said it has no intention to attack North Korea, but U.S. officials have said the nuclear impasse won’t be allowed to drag on forever.

The top U.S. negotiator on the North Korean nuclear dispute will visit South Korea this week as part of efforts to lure Pyongyang back to the negotiating table, an official said Wednesday.

During the four-day visit starting Friday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill will meet South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon and another official, Song Min-soon, to discuss the issue.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said last weekend that Pyongyang already had enough plutonium to make up to six bombs from an earlier batch of fuel rods. The estimated yield was higher because those rods spent more time in the reactor, which was last restarted in 2003 when North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

On Wednesday, the North Korean official noted the country had already announced plans to operate the five-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon and resume construction on a bigger reactor there because the United States pulled out of a 1994 deal on the North’s nuclear program made with the Clinton administration.

U.S. officials accused North Korea of running a secret uranium enrichment program in 2002 in violation of the earlier deal, under which Pyongyang agreed to forgo nuclear weapons development in exchange for energy aid and the construction of nuclear reactors that couldn’t be diverted for weapons use.

South Korea expressed "serious concern" at the latest development.

"North Korea should immediately halt actions that have a negative impact" on efforts to resume disarmament talks, the Foreign Ministry said. "We strongly urge North Korea to return to the six-party talks without delay."

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi noted North Korea has made such statements before to bolster its negotiating position.

"We must work to show that North Korea will benefit the most from returning quickly to the six-nation talks and disposing of its nuclear program," he said.