N. Korea appears to have restarted nuclear facility: source

(ATTN: UPDATES with additional remarks, more details, background)
SEOUL, May 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has apparently restarted its nuclear
reprocessing facility at Yongbyon from mid-April to produce plutonium, an
informed source said Wednesday, two days after the communist nation said it
conducted a second nuclear test.
The Yongbyon facility had been undergoing a disablement process under an
aid-for-denuclearization deal signed in 2007. Pyongyang said in April that it
will restart the nuclear facility, reacting to a U.N. Security Council statement
that condemned its long-range rocket launch earlier that month.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the doors of the site where
the North stores spent fuel rods were opened "several times" in mid-April, and
from late April, plumes of steam were detected at a reprocessing plant.
"Since early May, we have continuously been seeing steam rising from the nuclear
fuel fabrication plant," the source said.
Reprocessing spent fuel rods is a key process to producing weapons-grade
plutonium. Pyongyang is believed to have already stockpiled enough plutonium to
make as many as half a dozen nuclear weapons.
"As a result, it is the belief of our intelligence office that it is highly
likely the North restarted its nuclear facility," the source said.
North Korea said Monday that it successfully conducted a second nuclear
explosion, prompting strong reactions from the international community.
The North's nuclear gambit came in the midst of deadlocked six-party talks, a
forum that has been negotiating an aid-for-denuclearization deal.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is discussing a new resolution that
will condemn and punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test.
Pyongyang is already prohibited from any nuclear or ballistic missile activities
under a UNSC resolution adopted soon after its first nuclear test in October
2006.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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