SEOUL: North Korea has stopped the nuclear reactor at its key atomic complex, possibly to extract plutonium that could be utilized for arms by reprocessing spent fuel rods, a South Korea news report said on Thursday, quoting a government source.
North Korea Pauses Nuclear Reactor: Report
Reuters quoted U.S. and South Korean authorities as saying the operation of the 5 MW nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex has been halted since late September. “Seoul and Washington believe this could be a sign of reprocessing work being done to get weapons-grade plutonium,” the Donga Ilbo newspaper cited an official source as saying.
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According to Reuters, the Yongbyon nuclear complex is North Korea’s major source of plutonium that it possibly has utilized to build nuclear arms. The newspaper said that the probability of a nuclear test by Pyongyang is not ruled out. However, South Korea’s Ministries for Foreign Affairs and Defence Affairs did not react over the matter.
