N. Korea has weaponized declared plutonium: U.S. scholar

BEIJING, Jan. 17 Kyodo -
North Korea contends it has weaponized the more than 30 kilograms of plutonium
it has declared to its partners in the six-way denuclearization talks, and
insists they cannot be inspected, a U.S. scholar who visited the country said
Saturday.
Selig Harrison, Asia Program director at the Washington-based Center for
International Policy, said North Korean officials also listed other demands
that seemed to signal a hardening of Pyongyang's position over the multilateral
process.
Harrison was speaking to a group of reporters in Beijing after a five-day visit
to North Korea from Tuesday which took place less than a week before the
inauguration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.
During his stay, the scholar met with officials including Foreign Minister Pak
Ui Chun and Ri Gun, director general of the Foreign Ministry's American affairs
bureau who is directly involved in the six-way negotiations.
''All of those I met said that North Korea has already weaponized the 30.8 kg
of plutonium listed in its formal declaration, and that the weapons cannot be
inspected,'' Harrison said.
While the officials did not say whether weaponizing the material meant turning
them into nuclear warheads, the amount of plutonium involved suggests Pyongyang
could have four or five weapons, according to Harrison.
North Korea submitted a list of its nuclear programs last year as required
under a six-way deal. The amount of plutonium mentioned in the list has not
been made public.
The North Korean officials also threatened to suspend disablement work at its
key nuclear site if it does not receive all of the heavy fuel oil promised in
exchange for the measure, according to Harrison.
While China, South Korea, Russia and the United States are providing energy
aid, Japan has refused to join in the assistance, saying progress must first be
made in a bilateral dispute over the abductions of Japanese nationals by North
Korean agents.
Who will shoulder Japan's portion of the assistance has yet to be decided.
In another move seen as raising the bar of demands, North Korea also said that
to move on to the next stage of denuclearization -- in which facilities will be
dismantled -- it wants a promise that it will be given light-water reactors.
''North Korea says that to get dismantling, the six parties have to make a
binding commitment to complete the two light water reactors for electricity,''
he said.
The construction of two light-water reactors was part of a 1994 deal between
the United States and North Korea which ultimately collapsed. Compared to
graphite nuclear reactors, light-water reactors are more difficult to use to
acquire nuclear weapons material.
The issue of the light-water reactors has presented stumbling blocks in past
rounds of six-party negotiations. A key six-party deal reached in 2005 only
says the issue can be discussed ''at an appropriate time.''
On North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's health problem, Harrison said he has
concluded that the leader has had a stroke but that he has recovered.
Harrison said he believes Kim ''is now making what are described to me as key
decisions, but is not dealing on a day-to-day basis with detailed issues as he
had done before.''
Speculation that Kim suffered a major health setback intensified in September
last year, when he failed to appear at an event marking the 60th anniversary of
the country's founding.
North Korea has denied reports of his ill health, and the official media in
recent weeks have issued photographs of the leader visiting military units and
factories.
The just-ended visit was Harrison's eleventh from 1972.
==Kyodo