The news from northeast Asia just keeps getting better and better.
North Korea may be operating a secret second nuclear plant that is making plutonium to build nuclear weapons. The likelihood of a secret plant, possibly dug into the mountains, arose when sensors on the border with North Korea detected a gas that is produced when reprocessing spent fuel rods into plutonium. The alarm was raised when it became clear that the gas did not appear to be coming from the known Yongbyon nuclear plant.Posted by Alan at July 20, 2003 07:13 PMUnited States officials say the evidence of a second nuclear plant is not yet conclusive. But if such a plant is operating, it confirms North Korea is well advanced in building a nuclear arsenal. The possibility of a second, secret plant would seem to rule out a scenario once considered by the Clinton administration - a "surgical" strike by the US against the North's nuclear weapons-producing capability.
Chinese intelligence has reportedly determined that North Korea has reprocessed enough plutonium to make at least one bomb, and has all the components and triggering devices to build a nuclear-tipped missile. The news seemed to explain China's urgent intervention in the crisis last week, and its attempt to host talks between the US and North Korea.
via theSydney Morning Herald