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NYT: North Korea unveils plant for nuclear use - World news - The New York Times - msnbc.com Nov 20 2010
This photo combination of two satellite images provided by DigitalGlobe shows on the left, in the black and white image, the Yongbyon nuclear complex in Yongbyon, North Korea, on Sept. 21, 2008. The image on the right was taken Sept. 29, 2010, and shows new construction activity, the Institute for Science and International Security says.
WASHINGTON North Korea showed a visiting American nuclear scientist last week a vast new facility it secretly and rapidly built to enrich uranium, confronting the Obama administration with the prospect that the country is preparing to expand its nuclear arsenal or build a far more powerful type of atomic bomb.
Whether the calculated revelation is a negotiating ploy by North Korea or a signal that it plans to accelerate its weapons program even as it goes through a perilous leadership change, it creates a new challenge for President Obama at a moment when his program for gradual, global nuclear disarmament appears imperiled at home and abroad. The administration hurriedly began to brief allies and lawmakers on Saturday and braced for an international debate over the repercussions.
The scientist, Siegfried S. Hecker, a Stanford professor who previously directed the Los Alamos National Laboratory, said in an interview that he had been stunned by the sophistication of the new plant, where he saw hundreds and hundreds of centrifuges that had just been installed, and that were operated from what he called an ultra-modern control room. The North Koreans claimed 2,000 centrifuges were already installed and running, he said.
More world news NYT: North Korea unveils plant for nuclear use
Updated 89 minutes ago 11/21/2010 2:31:55 AM +00:00 North Korea showed a visiting American nuclear scientist a vast new facility it secretly and rapidly built to enrich uranium, handing the Obama administration a new challenge. Full story
...American officials know that the plant did not exist in April 2009, when the last Americans and international inspectors were thrown out of the country. The speed with which it was built strongly suggests that the impoverished, isolated country, which tested its first nuclear device in 2006, had foreign help and evaded strict new United Nations Security Council sanctions imposed to punish its rejection of international controls.
A delegation of American experts that included Dr. Hecker has already reported that it confirmed satellite photographic evidence of another new advance by the North a light-water reactor being built on the site of a facility the country had dismantled as part of an agreement with the international community to end its nuclear weapons program.
Dr. Hecker did not initially mention the surprising discovery of the uranium enrichment operation as he left North Korea last week. He privately informed the White House a few days ago.
The White House is clearly eager to use the new information to show that North Korea, in violation of United Nations mandates, continues to make significant progress toward advancing its nuclear program, even though it remains under international sanctions for its past violations.
.American officials were sent to China, Japan, Russia and South Korea, the other members in the moribund six-party talks. The Obama administration also hopes to persuade China, by far North Koreas most important source of political and economic support, to put more pressure on the government of Kim Jong-il, which has shown signs of becoming more militaristic as it undergoes a leadership transition.
This photo combination of two satellite images provided by DigitalGlobe shows on the left, in the black and white image, the Yongbyon nuclear complex in Yongbyon, North Korea, on Sept. 21, 2008. The image on the right was taken Sept. 29, 2010, and shows new construction activity, the Institute for Science and International Security says.
WASHINGTON North Korea showed a visiting American nuclear scientist last week a vast new facility it secretly and rapidly built to enrich uranium, confronting the Obama administration with the prospect that the country is preparing to expand its nuclear arsenal or build a far more powerful type of atomic bomb.
Whether the calculated revelation is a negotiating ploy by North Korea or a signal that it plans to accelerate its weapons program even as it goes through a perilous leadership change, it creates a new challenge for President Obama at a moment when his program for gradual, global nuclear disarmament appears imperiled at home and abroad. The administration hurriedly began to brief allies and lawmakers on Saturday and braced for an international debate over the repercussions.
The scientist, Siegfried S. Hecker, a Stanford professor who previously directed the Los Alamos National Laboratory, said in an interview that he had been stunned by the sophistication of the new plant, where he saw hundreds and hundreds of centrifuges that had just been installed, and that were operated from what he called an ultra-modern control room. The North Koreans claimed 2,000 centrifuges were already installed and running, he said.
More world news NYT: North Korea unveils plant for nuclear use
Updated 89 minutes ago 11/21/2010 2:31:55 AM +00:00 North Korea showed a visiting American nuclear scientist a vast new facility it secretly and rapidly built to enrich uranium, handing the Obama administration a new challenge. Full story
...American officials know that the plant did not exist in April 2009, when the last Americans and international inspectors were thrown out of the country. The speed with which it was built strongly suggests that the impoverished, isolated country, which tested its first nuclear device in 2006, had foreign help and evaded strict new United Nations Security Council sanctions imposed to punish its rejection of international controls.
A delegation of American experts that included Dr. Hecker has already reported that it confirmed satellite photographic evidence of another new advance by the North a light-water reactor being built on the site of a facility the country had dismantled as part of an agreement with the international community to end its nuclear weapons program.
Dr. Hecker did not initially mention the surprising discovery of the uranium enrichment operation as he left North Korea last week. He privately informed the White House a few days ago.
The White House is clearly eager to use the new information to show that North Korea, in violation of United Nations mandates, continues to make significant progress toward advancing its nuclear program, even though it remains under international sanctions for its past violations.
.American officials were sent to China, Japan, Russia and South Korea, the other members in the moribund six-party talks. The Obama administration also hopes to persuade China, by far North Koreas most important source of political and economic support, to put more pressure on the government of Kim Jong-il, which has shown signs of becoming more militaristic as it undergoes a leadership transition.
