Thursday, December 12, 2002
DPRK ANNOUNCES IT WILL REVIVE ITS NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
Still, note the following
Brinkmanship or does the DPRK really want to become a nuclear weapons state? I tend to lean toward the latter opinion but who can tell? For a similar account see here (NYT: free registration required)
North Korea's Foreign Ministry said Thursday it would immediately end a freeze on its nuclear power plant in response to an allied decision to suspend oil aid to Pyongyang, Seoul's Yonhap news agency reported.
The nuclear reactor, suspected of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons, was frozen in 1994 under the Agreed Framework with the United States.
Yonhap quoted a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying in a statement that Pyongyang would "immediately lift the freeze on and reactivate and build nuclear facilities necessary for power production."
Still, note the following
A South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman said: "We have not received such a notification from the North. But if it is true, we cannot but express strong concern."
"North Korea-U.S. relations are heading toward the end of a cliff, but we have to see if the North is actually about to implement this or if it is using it as a negotiation tactic," the spokesman added.
Brinkmanship or does the DPRK really want to become a nuclear weapons state? I tend to lean toward the latter opinion but who can tell? For a similar account see here (NYT: free registration required)
