South Korea calls North Korea's 'nuclear fusion' claim bluff

New Delhi, May 12 (ANI): South Korea has dismissed North Korea's claims of successfully producing a nuclear fusion reaction as untrue. They cite lack of adequate funds and facilities that are necessary for carrying out costly experiments and its lack of nuclear research as the reason for ruling out such claims.

Nuclear experts too have discounted their tall claims saying that North Korean scientists had been trying to achieve a fusion reaction for five years without success, and felt that even if the North Koreans had managed to produce the reaction, it would be rudimentary in nature.

Local media in Seoul cited unidentified South Korean officials as dismissing Pyongyang's claim, with many nuclear experts in Seoul also laughing it away, Xinhua reports.

Seoul's Yonhap News Agency quoted a South Korean foreign ministry official as calling Pyongyang's claim "absurd," citing a lack of intelligence indicating the country has costly facilities needed for such experiments.

Moreover, even if their claims were true, South Korean officials feel these experiments could in a broad sense be tantamount to a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874, which demands the country halt its nuclear weapons programs and conduct no further nuclear or missile tests, the agency said in its report.

Some South Korean experts feel that these claims are a strategic move by North Korea to up its ante before returning to the suspended Six-Party talks, while others pointed out that Pyongyang wants to retain its image as a nuclear state by making the claim, the agency said. (ANI)