North Korea Upping the Nuclear Ante
Contact: Steve LaMontagne (202) 546-0795 ×100
New satellite intelligence reportedly indicates that North Korea may be removing spent nuclear fuel rods from storage, possibly with the intention of reprocessing plutonium for nuclear weapons. If confirmed, the move represents a dangerous new act of brinkmanship that the Bush administration must act quickly to defuse.
“The North Koreans are upping the nuclear ante, but they are walking a very thin tightrope,” said Steve LaMontagne, senior analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, DC.
The new intelligence calls into question recent statements from officials in Pyongyang that North Korea does not intend to develop nuclear weapons. If North Korea is allowed to reprocess plutonium from the spent fuel, it could build five or six nuclear weapons in six months. Plutonium reprocessing remains North Korea’s quickest route to a small nuclear arsenal.
In order to prevent the current impasse from spiraling downward to an unmanageable level, the Bush administration should immediately signal that the United States is prepared to sit down and negotiate with North Korea. The Administration should also insist that it will negotiate only if the spent nuclear fuel rods remain stored and accounted for, and that an IAEA or U.S. representative be allowed to monitor the storage.
“The U.S. should negotiate, but the fuel rods should be quarantined as a pre-condition of those talks,” LaMontagne said.
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