Seoul warns of action against Pyongyang's reported plutonium production

By Park Sae-jin Posted : August 18, 2016, 14:53 Updated : August 18, 2016, 14:53

A pile picture on North Korea's missile launch.[Yonhap News Phto ]


South Korea will coordinate with allies and international agencies to punish North Korea if it actually resumed the production of weapons-grade plutonium banned under UN resolutions, the defense ministry said Thursday.

The warning came a day after Japan's Kyodo News reported in its interview with North Korea's Atomic Energy Institute that the nuclear-armed country has reprocessed spent nuclear fuel rods removed from a five-megawatt reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.

Kyodo said North Korea has been producing highly enriched uranium needed to produce nuclear weapons "as scheduled" but the institute stopped short of revealing the amount of plutonium or enriched uranium.

"It's true that North Korea has sought to reprocess (spent fuel) for the additional storage of plutonium," defense ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told a press briefing.

"If North Korea's claims are true, it's a violation of UNSC resolutions banning nuclear activities. The government will closely consult with other countries concerned and international agencies to work out countermeasures," he added.

In 2007, the reactor in Yongbyon was shut down under a deal reached in six-party talks grouping the two Koreas, China, Japan and the United States. The forum has been stalled since late 2008 when Pyongyang walked away.

It is hard to verify any information related to North Korea's nuclear activity, but the International Atomic Energy Agency warned in July that North Korea could have started reprocessing spent nuclear fuel to harvest plutonium.

Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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