NORTH Korea鈥檚 latest pronouncement on its plans for nuclear weapons may not be all it seems. The state claims to have made a significant advance in its nuclear weapons programme, but this may be no more than tough talk.
On 2 October, the Democratic People鈥檚 Republic of Korea (DPRK) issued a curiously worded statement in which it said it had 鈥渟witched鈥� its plutonium towards boosting its nuclear deterrent. This is no surprise: it had already announced that it had extracted the plutonium by reprocessing 8000 spent fuel rods from a reactor in Yongbyon, 100 kilometres north of the capital, Pyongyang. That claim was supported by data from the US government, which showed traces of the telltale radioactive gas krypton-85 in the air.
Last week鈥檚 statement, from the DPRK鈥檚 news agency KCNA, suggests it has overcome the technological barriers to switching plutonium from civil to military use. This could mean that some plutonium has already been converted from an oxide into a metal for use in bombs, or merely that it has worked out how to do this. Many observers suspect that Kim Jong-il鈥檚 government is talking up its nuclear prowess to strengthen its bargaining position in non-proliferation negotiations with the US, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
Advertisement
Nevertheless, the DPRK may already have one or two warheads, and could be preparing to make half a dozen more. In its 2 October statement it threatened to 鈥渟teadily increase its nuclear deterrent force鈥o cope with America鈥檚 ever more undisguised threat to mount a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the DPRK.鈥�
Colin Powell, US secretary of state, said this is 鈥渙f the most serious concern鈥�.