North to lift ban on shared complex
North Korea said Wednesday it is lifting a ban on operations at a jointly run factory park closed since Pyongyang pulled out its 53,000 workers in April amid tensions with South Korea, and the rivals agreed to meet next week for talks meant to restart the complex. The agreement revives hope for the resumption of production at the Kaesong complex, the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean cooperation from an earlier period of detente. The industrial park combined South Korean initiative, capital and technology with cheap North Korean labor. It was also a rare source of hard currency for North Korea, though the economically depressed country chafed at suggestions that it needed the money Kaesong generated. North Korea said it will lift its ban on operations at the complex, including restrictions on the entry of South Korean managers. But the two countries must reach a formal accord on their differences before production can resume, and six past meetings on the park’s fate remained deadlocked.
The Associated Press
A U.S. institute tracking North Korea’s nuclear weapons program says recent satellite photos show Pyongyang is doubling the size of its uranium enrichment plant, adding credence to the country’s announced plans to expand technology that can be used both to create energy and the core of nuclear weapons.
The imagery comes from two sources, satellite companies Digital Globe and Astrium Geoinformation Services. In a note accompanying the photographs, the Institute for Science and International Security — or ISIS — said construction under way at the Nyongbyon nuclear complex in the North would “effectively double” the size of the enrichment hall.
ISIS, a Washington-based think-tank, said that would allow North Korea to also double the number of centrifuges now enriching uranium. Revealing the existence of a uranium enrichment program three years ago, Pyongyang said the plant contained 2,000 centrifuges — machines that are linked up in series and spin uranium gas into material that can be used either to power reactors or arm nuclear weapons, depending on the degree of enrichment.
That means the 4,000 centrifuges for which the space is apparently being expanded could potentially make twice that amount, giving them the capacity to build up to four bombs a year — should the country decide to use them for that purpose.
The most recent satellite photo was taken July 28. Measured against earlier images, this one shows construction at the Nyongbyon site, including “the expansion of the gas centrifuge building,” at twice its previous size.
ISIS said the images indicate that work on the structure seems to have begun sometime in March. It cited a North Korean government announcement that came shortly afterward revealing plans for “readjusting and restarting all the nuclear facilities in Nyongbyon, including (the) uranium enrichment plant.”
Government offices in Pyongyang that could comment were shut for the day ahead of report’s publication. A North Korean diplomat with his country’s mission to the United Nations in New York said he had no comment because he had not yet seen the report.
Experts believe the plant is meant primarily to provide fuel for the power-hungry country. But centrifuges producing such fuel can be reconfigured to make weapons-grade uranium. That has led to international concerns because of three nuclear weapon tests by the North Koreans — the most recent in February — and the country’s stated intention to continue down the nuclear weapons path.
The first two tests are believed to have used plutonium, fissile material that also can be used in weapons. But experts and governments say that with its uranium enrichment program confirmed and operating, the third explosion may have used highly enriched uranium.
James Hardy, Asia-Pacific editor of Jane’s Defence Weekly, said the potential expansion will complicate any attempts by South Korea to lower tensions with its Northern rival.
There have been recent attempts at tentative diplomacy by the Koreas, but tensions could rise again this month as South Korea and the United States are scheduled to begin a joint military exercise on Aug. 19.
Hardy said the development also raises pressure on the U.S. government to come up with a policy that will stem North Korean programs to expand both its missile technology and nuclear production facilities.
“That said, the U.S.’s ongoing involvement in trying to resurrect peace talks in the Middle East is likely to push the whole North Korea issue further onto the backburner for the time being,” he said in an email.
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