North Korea said today it was in the final stages of reprocessing more than 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, which intelligence experts say could allow it to build several atomic bombs within months.
It was impossible to independently confirm the North Korean claim because the communist state expelled UN nuclear monitors on New Year's Eve. Japan said it had no information on the report.
The move dramatically raises the stakes in talks due to be held next week in Beijing on the North's suspected nuclear weapons programmes. North Korea, the United States and China are taking part.
It was unclear whether North Korea plans to push ahead with the development of nuclear weapons to secure the deterrent it covets against what it calls a US plan to invade. Another possibility is that it is willing to bargain the programme away, presumably in exchange for security guarantees and aid for its shattered economy.
A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman emphasised the importance that the North sees in a military deterrent to stave off a possible US attack in the wake of the war against Iraq.
"The Iraqi war teaches a lesson that in order to prevent a war and defend the security of a country and the sovereignty of a nation it is necessary to have a powerful physical deterrent force only," the unnamed spokesman told North Korea's official news agency, KCNA.
"As we have already declared, we are successfully reprocessing more than 8,000 spent fuel rods at the final phase," he said, adding that "interim information" was sent to the United States and "other countries concerned" last month. Reprocessing would yield weapons-grade plutonium.
It was impossible to independently confirm the North Korean claim because the communist state expelled UN nuclear monitors on New Year's Eve. Japan said it had no information on the report.
The move dramatically raises the stakes in talks due to be held next week in Beijing on the North's suspected nuclear weapons programmes. North Korea, the United States and China are taking part.
It was unclear whether North Korea plans to push ahead with the development of nuclear weapons to secure the deterrent it covets against what it calls a US plan to invade. Another possibility is that it is willing to bargain the programme away, presumably in exchange for security guarantees and aid for its shattered economy.
A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman emphasised the importance that the North sees in a military deterrent to stave off a possible US attack in the wake of the war against Iraq.
"The Iraqi war teaches a lesson that in order to prevent a war and defend the security of a country and the sovereignty of a nation it is necessary to have a powerful physical deterrent force only," the unnamed spokesman told North Korea's official news agency, KCNA.
"As we have already declared, we are successfully reprocessing more than 8,000 spent fuel rods at the final phase," he said, adding that "interim information" was sent to the United States and "other countries concerned" last month. Reprocessing would yield weapons-grade plutonium.
