N. Korea restarts plutonium plant for nukes: US spy

Obama, Abe, Park support UN resolution on Pyongyang

Washington/ Seoul, Feb. 9: North Korea has restarted a plutonium reactor that could provide fuel for nuclear weapons, US director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Tuesday.

“We further assess that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor’s spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama spoke to two key Asian allies late Monday, garnering support for strong action against North Korea in response to recent nuclear and missile tests.

The White House said Mr Obama had spoken to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun- hye to weigh the next steps, including a UN Security Council resolution that would bring new sanctions.

Mr Abe, Mr Obama and Ms Park agreed on the need for a “strong and united international response to North Korea’s provocations, including through a robust UN Security Council Resolution,” according to the White House.

The Security Council condemned North Korea’s rocket launch on Sunday and agreed to move quickly to impose new sanctions that will punish Pyongyang for “these dangerous and serious violations.”

The launch came weeks after Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test.

Beijing has in the past proved reluctant to support biting multilateral sanctions against North Korea, for fear of destabilising a regime on China’s border.

The White House has said it could introduce unilateral sanctions if necessary, but admits that room to punish the already heavily sanctioned nation is limited.

The Pyongyang rocket appeared to be more powerful than one fired in 2012

The US military has also said it wants to send a sophisticated missile defense system to South Korea as quickly as possible. The rocket appeared to be more powerful than one fired in 2012, with an increased range of 12,000 kilometres which puts most of the US within reach, a South Korean defence ministry official said on Tuesday.

The three- stage rocket was confirmed to have put an object into orbit but it has not yet been verified whether the alleged satellite is functioning, he told journalists, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The rocket was similar to the Unha- 3 launched in December 2012 but is believed to have a range of 12,000 km.

The old model was estimated to have a range of some 10,000 km.

“However, we need more analysis to determine the capacity, including its exact range,” a defence ministry spokesman said.

There had been speculation the North might use a much larger rocket this time after having completed work on an extended 67metre gantry tower capable of handling a launch vehicle twice the size of the 30metre Unha- 3.

North Korea, however, has not yet mastered key technology needed to turn the rocket into an inter- continental ballistic missile — a re- entry vehicle to protect the warhead from heat, the official said.

The rocket, carrying an Earth observation satellite, blasted off on Sunday at around 9 am ( 0600 IST) and achieved orbit 10 minutes later.