North Korea may be shutting nuclear reactor: Reports

Seoul, Apr 17: North Korea may have started to shut down its nuclear reactor and source of weapons-grade plutonium several days after it was supposed to do so under a disarmament deal, South Korean media reported today.

US spy satellite photographs showed increased activity around the North's Soviet-era Yongbyon reactor, major daily newspaper Dong-A Ilbo said, citing a diplomatic source.

''Washington thinks it is highly likely that those activities are a part of North Korea's operations to close down the nuclear facility,'' the source with access to intelligence information told the paper.

Yonhap news agency carried a similar report.

South Korean government officials declined to comment on the reports. yesterday, local media reported Seoul was thinking of halting the resumption of massive rice aid to its impoverished neighbour until North Korea started the shut down process.

Japan's top government spokesman said Tokyo was collecting information but would not comment on reports the shut down may have started.

North Korea has demanded the release of 25 million dollars in funds frozen at a Macau bank for suspected use in illicit activity by Pyongyang before it starts to shutter the Yongbyon plant.

Washington has said the funds have been unblocked and are ready to be picked up.

North Korea missed an April 14 deadline set in a February deal among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States to start closing the reactor and invite UN nuclear inspectors into the secretive state in return for fuel aid.

A Macau bank accused by the United States of playing a central role in North Korean money laundering said on Monday it had challenged the ruling against it as politically motivated and lacking evidence.

Macau's Banco Delta Asia said in a statement it had filed a challenge against a March US Treasury ruling that bars US banks from doing business with it.

It said the ruling ignored all remedial measures taken by the bank and ''was politically motivated because it was based on disputes between the United States and North Korea''.

Reuters

Related Stories