It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

NORTH KOREA TRYING TO DEMONSTRATE THAT IT HAS NUKES

An unofficial delegation of U.S. experts visiting North Korea last week examined what the Pyongyang government said was its "nuclear deterrent," apparently providing the first confirmation that Pyongyang has produced the key ingredient for nuclear weapons.

U.S. officials said they have received only initial details of the visit, and they cautioned that they do not yet know the full extent of the facilities and materials examined by the delegation. But one official said it appeared the delegation had been shown what the North Koreans described as recently reprocessed plutonium.

Of course we'll have to wait for the full report of this delegation. But at first glance, this seems to do little more than confirm that the DPRK has indeed reprocessed some of the plutonium from Yongbyon. Can they convert this into a usable weapon? We still don't know.