North Korea may have resumed Nuclear reactor: IAEA

Nuclear-armed North Korea appears to have restarted its plutonium-producing reprocessing reactor in a “deeply troubling” development, the UN atomic agency has said, a possible sign Pyongyang is expanding its banned weapons programme.
The development on the 5-megawatt reactor in Yongbyon — North Korea’s main nuclear complex — comes with nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington at a standstill.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un offered to dismantle part of the Yongbyon complex at a second summit with then U.S. President Donald Trump but not other sites, in exchange for sanctions relief, and his offer was rejected.
North Korea is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
“Since early July, there have been indications, including the discharge of cooling water, consistent with the operation of the reactor,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in its annual report.
The Yongbyon reactor appeared to have been inactive from December 2018 until then, added the report dated Friday.
IAEA inspectors were kicked out of North Korea in 2009, and the agency has since monitored it from outside.
The possible operation of the reactor follows a recent indication that Pyongyang is also using a nearby radiochemical laboratory to separate plutonium from spent fuel previously removed from the reactor.
The signs of the reactor and laboratory operations were “deeply troubling”, the IAEA said, adding the activities were a “clear violation” of UN resolutions.
A senior U.S. State Department official said Washington was aware of the report and was closely coordinating with partner countries.
The Biden administration has previously promised a “practical, calibrated approach”, including diplomatic efforts, to persuade the impoverished North to give up its banned weapons programmes.
But Pyongyang has never shown any indication it would be willing to surrender its nuclear arsenal, and this month Mr. Kim’s sister and key adviser Kim Yo Jong demanded the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the peninsula.
Pyongyang has stayed away from nuclear talks since the collapse of the second Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi.
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Source: TH

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