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N. Korea Restarts Nuke Program

Posted Sep 24, 08 6:40 AM CDT in World 

(AP) – North Korea plans to reactivate its nuclear program and will start reinserting plutonium-producing nuclear material within a week, reports the AP. Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, said that his inspectors removed all agency seals and surveillance equipment from the country's main nuclear facility. He added that "from here on, the IAEA inspectors will have no further access to the reprocessing plant."

The agency had been monitoring the nuclear plant at Yongbyon, which was shut down and then sealed as part of a North Korean pledge to disable its nuclear program after six-party talks. The restart makes good on earlier threats, but it could be strategic as well: Restarting the plant will take a year, during which the North could wrest further concessions from the US and other nations seeking to strip it of its atomic program.
Source: Associated Press

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Thousands of North Koreans turn colored cards to form the symbol for the atom as gymnasts perform on the field below during a "mass games" performance at a stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea.   (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
North Korean men perform Taekwondo as they march with the national flag along side over 100,000 participants performing in the Mass Games in Pyongyang, North Korea.   (AP Photo/Wally Santana)
This Aug. 13, 2002 file photo is a satellite image of the Yongbyon Nuclear Center in North Korea. North Korea said Sept. 24, 3008 it plans to reinsert nuclear material into the Yongbyon reactor.   (AP Photo/Space Imaging Asia, File)
Director General of the IAEA Mohamed ElBaradei waits for the start of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board meeting in Vienna, Monday, Sept. 22, 2008.   (AP Photo/Hans Punz)
Foreign correspondents take pictures of a South Korean Army soldier near the fence in the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas at Yeoncheon, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008.   (AP Photo)
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