Interesting that Iraq went out of its way to prove that it did not have WMDs, yet North Korea seems to be showing off a bit ...
Scientist describes N. Korea nuclear evidence
By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — North Korea showed a U.S. nuclear scientist an operating reactor, an empty pond that once held enough material to make six bombs, and a warm, dark substance that seemed to be plutonium metal, a key ingredient for nuclear weapons, the scientist said Wednesday.
Siegfried Hecker briefs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his recent inspection of North Korean facilities.
Sig Hecker, former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratories, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he had not seen an actual weapon. But he said his visit to the Yongbyon facility Jan. 8, the first by an outside expert in more than a year, suggested North Korea is capable of making nuclear weapons.
The facilities "were old by U.S. standards but adequate for the task at hand," Hecker told reporters after the hearing. He said North Korean scientists answered questions in a way that was "straightforward and technically sound." He said, "It would be just not smart to assume they can't make a rudimentary weapon."
North Korea invited Hecker and four other Americans in an apparent effort to strengthen its position before a third round of talks with its neighbors and the United States about trading its nuclear program for economic and diplomatic concessions. Two previous rounds made little progress.
North Korean officials kept referring to their program as "our deterrent" and repeated an offer to suspend operations at Yongbyon as a first step toward a solution, Hecker said. But the fact that the delegation was shown no proof that North Korea has nuclear weapons is unlikely to alter the Bush administration's refusal to meet one-on-one with North Korean officials or to offer substantial concessions.
Complicating the standoff: North Korean officials denied to the U.S. visitors that they have a program to produce highly enriched uranium, another material for nuclear weapons. Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan said North Korea has "no facilities, equipment or scientists dedicated" to this, Hecker said. A North Korean admission in October 2002 of efforts to buy equipment to enrich uranium touched off the current crisis. Before that admission, U.S. officials believed North Korea had enough material to make one or two nuclear bombs from plutonium.
Although the daylong visit by the unofficial delegation was inconclusive in many respects, the group was given extraordinary access. Hecker said he was the first American allowed into a laboratory where the North Koreans claim to have reprocessed 8,000 used fuel rods, which could provide enough plutonium for five or six bombs. The rods had been stored in a pond that now holds only fragments of rods and empty containers, Hecker said.
When Hecker expressed skepticism about North Korean claims, technicians produced a heavy glass jar containing a funnel-shaped piece of metal that was "blackish with a rough surface," he said. A metallurgist who has spent decades working with plutonium, Hecker said the North Koreans allowed him to hold the jar in gloved hands. In contrast to everything else in the laboratory, the jar was warm, and it "seemed about right in terms of weight," Hecker said. When he took off the gloves, the North Koreans ran a Geiger counter over them to check for radioactivity. The counter went off.
"The bottom line is: It was consistent with the way plutonium looks," Hecker said, "but I still cannot say with 100% certainty that it was plutonium" or that it came from the fuel rods the North Koreans claim to have reprocessed.
Hecker did say a nuclear reactor that can yield a bomb's worth of plutonium a year was up and running after being mothballed for eight years under a now-defunct agreement with the United States. The reactor holds an additional 8,000 fuel rods that could be removed at any time. The North Koreans said a third stockpile of 8,000 rods was ready for loading. The reactor operates with natural uranium, which North Korea possesses in abundance, Hecker said.
The North Koreans appear to be trying to balance their desire to prod the Bush administration to negotiate with a reluctance to provoke a harsh response. Hecker quoted Vice Foreign Minister Kim as saying, " 'If you go back to the United States and say the North already has nuclear weapons, this may cause the U.S. to act against us.' " Showing actual bombs, if they possess them, could also give away intelligence about how sophisticated North Korean technology has become.
Administration critics worry about a growing risk that North Korea will not only become the world's tenth nuclear weapons state, but also might sell nuclear material or technology to other countries or terrorists.
"You have to assume that time does not help," Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the ranking minority member of the committee, said after the hearing. "The quicker we get down to see if a deal can be done, the better off everyone will be."
Scientist describes N. Korea nuclear evidence
By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — North Korea showed a U.S. nuclear scientist an operating reactor, an empty pond that once held enough material to make six bombs, and a warm, dark substance that seemed to be plutonium metal, a key ingredient for nuclear weapons, the scientist said Wednesday.
Siegfried Hecker briefs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his recent inspection of North Korean facilities.
Sig Hecker, former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratories, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he had not seen an actual weapon. But he said his visit to the Yongbyon facility Jan. 8, the first by an outside expert in more than a year, suggested North Korea is capable of making nuclear weapons.
The facilities "were old by U.S. standards but adequate for the task at hand," Hecker told reporters after the hearing. He said North Korean scientists answered questions in a way that was "straightforward and technically sound." He said, "It would be just not smart to assume they can't make a rudimentary weapon."
North Korea invited Hecker and four other Americans in an apparent effort to strengthen its position before a third round of talks with its neighbors and the United States about trading its nuclear program for economic and diplomatic concessions. Two previous rounds made little progress.
North Korean officials kept referring to their program as "our deterrent" and repeated an offer to suspend operations at Yongbyon as a first step toward a solution, Hecker said. But the fact that the delegation was shown no proof that North Korea has nuclear weapons is unlikely to alter the Bush administration's refusal to meet one-on-one with North Korean officials or to offer substantial concessions.
Complicating the standoff: North Korean officials denied to the U.S. visitors that they have a program to produce highly enriched uranium, another material for nuclear weapons. Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan said North Korea has "no facilities, equipment or scientists dedicated" to this, Hecker said. A North Korean admission in October 2002 of efforts to buy equipment to enrich uranium touched off the current crisis. Before that admission, U.S. officials believed North Korea had enough material to make one or two nuclear bombs from plutonium.
Although the daylong visit by the unofficial delegation was inconclusive in many respects, the group was given extraordinary access. Hecker said he was the first American allowed into a laboratory where the North Koreans claim to have reprocessed 8,000 used fuel rods, which could provide enough plutonium for five or six bombs. The rods had been stored in a pond that now holds only fragments of rods and empty containers, Hecker said.
When Hecker expressed skepticism about North Korean claims, technicians produced a heavy glass jar containing a funnel-shaped piece of metal that was "blackish with a rough surface," he said. A metallurgist who has spent decades working with plutonium, Hecker said the North Koreans allowed him to hold the jar in gloved hands. In contrast to everything else in the laboratory, the jar was warm, and it "seemed about right in terms of weight," Hecker said. When he took off the gloves, the North Koreans ran a Geiger counter over them to check for radioactivity. The counter went off.
"The bottom line is: It was consistent with the way plutonium looks," Hecker said, "but I still cannot say with 100% certainty that it was plutonium" or that it came from the fuel rods the North Koreans claim to have reprocessed.
Hecker did say a nuclear reactor that can yield a bomb's worth of plutonium a year was up and running after being mothballed for eight years under a now-defunct agreement with the United States. The reactor holds an additional 8,000 fuel rods that could be removed at any time. The North Koreans said a third stockpile of 8,000 rods was ready for loading. The reactor operates with natural uranium, which North Korea possesses in abundance, Hecker said.
The North Koreans appear to be trying to balance their desire to prod the Bush administration to negotiate with a reluctance to provoke a harsh response. Hecker quoted Vice Foreign Minister Kim as saying, " 'If you go back to the United States and say the North already has nuclear weapons, this may cause the U.S. to act against us.' " Showing actual bombs, if they possess them, could also give away intelligence about how sophisticated North Korean technology has become.
Administration critics worry about a growing risk that North Korea will not only become the world's tenth nuclear weapons state, but also might sell nuclear material or technology to other countries or terrorists.
"You have to assume that time does not help," Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the ranking minority member of the committee, said after the hearing. "The quicker we get down to see if a deal can be done, the better off everyone will be."
