The Hindu : International : North Korea set to test nuclear bomb, warns U.S.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 01, 2005

International

International

North Korea set to test nuclear bomb, warns U.S.

Iran announces move to resume uranium enrichment

VIENNA: The United States has warned its allies that North Korea may be ready to carry out an underground nuclear test as early as June, diplomats said on Saturday, even as Iran stated that it will resume some nuclear activities related to uranium enrichment next week.

The diplomats said the information regarding North Korea had been apparently gathered in part from satellite imagery.

They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of discussing intelligence information.

Growing fears

The reported U.S. warnings reflected growing fears in Washington that the North is going ahead with efforts to develop nuclear weapons after South Korean officials said Pyongyang had recently shut down a nuclear reactor, possibly to harvest plutonium that could be used in an underground test.

The 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon generates spent fuel rods laced with plutonium, but they must be removed and reprocessed to extract the plutonium for use in an atomic weapon. They can be removed only if the reactor is shut down.

In Teheran, a top nuclear negotiator said on Saturday that his country would resume some nuclear activities related to uranium enrichment

The state-run news agency IRNA quoted Hasan Rowhani as saying the Islamic Republic might not resume actual uranium enrichment — injecting uranium gas into centrifuges — but that it might restart activities at its uranium conversion facility in Isfahan.

``It's unlikely that uranium enrichment ... which takes place in Natanz, will be resumed, but it's likely that some activities at Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility will restart next week,'' Mr. Rowhani said. — AP

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