‘NK has add’l uranium facilities other than in Yongbyon’

‘NK has add’l uranium facilities other than in Yongbyon’. December. 16, 2010 10:52. yhchoi65@donga.com.

American experts suspect that North Korea has uranium enrichment facilities in at least one more location in addition to those in Yongbyon, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.

In a regular news briefing, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters, “We`re very conscious of the fact that, in the recent revelations to American delegations, what they saw did not come out of thin air. It certainly reflects work being done at least one other site,” adding, “This remains a significant area of concern.”

On if Washington has credible evidence that Pyongyang has four uranium enrichment facilities as reported by media, he said, “Even if we do not want to mention intelligence, there has been concern over North Korea’s such activities for a long time thus far.”

Earlier, Siegfried S. Hecker, co-director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University who visited the North’s Yongbyon uranium enrichment facilities last month, said Pyongyang has probably concealed facilities capable of creating highly enriched uranium apart from those in Yongbyon.

After Pyongyang publicized such facilities in Yongbyon, Washington raised suspicion that the North has more such facilities in other locations.

Glyn Davies, U.S. delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told an agency board meeting early this month that unlike what the North claims, chances are high that Pyongyang could have been conducting work to enrich uranium long before April last year.