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Defense Minister: NK Restoring Main Nuke Facility

Posted October. 05, 2010 13:26,   

한국어

North Korea is restoring its main nuclear facility in Yongbyon, where the cooling tower had been demolished, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said Monday.

“North Korea has been reconstructing nuclear facilities and maintaining facilities in Yongbyon,” Kim told a parliamentary audit of his ministry in Seoul’s Yongsan district. “The North is building new buildings in the region of the second reactor and conducting a massive excavation.”

Seoul based its confirmation of the restoration on data from the Institute for Science and International Security, a U.S.-based global security think tank which reported new construction at the nuclear facility.

“North Korea is building two rectangular buildings next to the cooling tower that was demolished in 2008,” a source from the South Korean government said. “The new buildings seem to be general buildings and not a cooling tower, but it remains to be seen what their purpose will be.”

“Since Yongbyon is not a place for a nuclear test, it`s hard to say if North Korea is preparing for a nuclear test, but what is certain is that it hasn`t suspended nuclear-related activities,” the source added. “The government has been monitoring North Korea’s nuclear-related activities.”

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Park Kil Yon said in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York Wednesday, “Our nuclear deterrence can never be given up and we will rather strengthen it. “

The cooling tower for the five-megawatt nuclear reactor was destroyed in June 2008 under an agreement reached at the six-party nuclear talks in 2007. With the U.N. Security Council saying the North’s launch of a long-range missile violated U.N. Resolution 1718 and releasing a statement critical of the North, Pyongyang declared a suspension to the Yongbyon facility’s disablement and a restoration of the facility.

“North Korea is likely to conduct a joint tactical drill in the presence of Kim Jong Il before the 65th anniversary of the Workers’ Party Oct. 10,” Minister Kim said in the audit. “It is preparing a large-scale joint drill of its armed forces off the coast of Wonsan.”

He also said Pyongyang is likely to attempt another provocation ahead of the November G20 summit in Seoul.



mhpark@donga.com