Seoul reacts cautiously to nuclear plant reports

In a muted reaction to reports that North Korea has restarted its nuclear reactor at Yeongbyeon, north of Pyeongyang, officials in Seoul said they could not confirm the reports but added that if the plant had resumed operations, it would be far from a surprising development.
Pyeongyang had said more that two months ago that it intended to restart the reactor to generate electricity, although the five-megawatt plant’s output would do little to help the perennial power shortages there.
Despite the air of resignation he projected about the reports, an official said that the restart of the plant, if confirmed, would mark a further deterioration of efforts to contain the North’s nuclear program.
The initial reports from the Associated Press quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying signature plumes of steam were observed above the reactor. The Japanese press quoted officials in Tokyo as saying the same thing; the official here did not answer questions from reporters about whether his inability to confirm the reports meant that Seoul had not yet received such information from Washington.
The reports came just hours after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, en route from Seoul to Washington, noted that the reactor had not yet been restarted. Like the officials here, though, he seemed to assume that it would eventually happen. “I can’t tell you why,” he said, “but it just has not yet started.”
Pyeongyang expelled two inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency at the end of December after disabling monitoring devices at the nuclear site. In January it withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Earlier this month, the international agency referred the North Korea nuclear issue to the United Nations Security Council.
The reports, however, did not suggest that North Korea had reactivated its nuclear fuel reprocessing facility in Yeongbyeon. The facility is said to be able to separate plutonium from spent nuclear fuel to produce weapons-grade material.
Officials here reiterated Seoul’s commitment for a peaceful resolution of the issue, “no matter what.” And in Beijing yesterday, the Chinese and Russian foreign ministers called for direct U.S. talks with North Korea.

by Kim Young-sae