-Caveat Lector- http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/12/18/150202.shtml
WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! North Korea Stockpiles Plutonium NewsMax.com Wires Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2001 SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea has stockpiled enough plutonium to build at least one atomic bomb but is still several years from producing nuclear weapons because of "rudimentary" technology, South Korea's Defense Ministry said Tuesday. In a report on North Korea's weapons of mass destruction, the ministry estimated the communist country extracted 22 to 26 pounds of weapons-grade plutonium from its Soviet-designed graphite-moderated reactors before shutting them down under a 1994 deal with the United States. North Korea conducted more than 70 nuclear-related tests of high explosives between 1983 and 1998, the report said. Those tests were a process needed before fabricating a high-explosive device or detonator, and there were problems in the post-1993 tests acquiring parts of the detonator, the report said. "North Korea may have a capability of putting together a crude nuclear explosion device," the ministry report said. "But its technology is believed to be still in a rudimentary stage and it will take the North at least several years to turn the system into a weapon." U.S. Blackmailed Under the 1994 agreed framework, North Korea pledged to freeze its Soviet-designed reactors, in return for a U.S. promise to provide 1,000-megawatt light-water models that make it more difficult to extract weapons-grade plutonium. The ministry report is considered as confirmation of widespread suspicions North Korea might have extracted weapons-grade plutonium before freezing its nuclear program. The nuclear accord obliges North Korea to open its atomic facilities to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency before the light-water reactor equipment is installed. The U.N. nuclear watchdog recently said it wanted wider inspections, complaining of little progress in its effort to verify North Korea's past nuclear activities. But Pyongyang has rejected international demand to allow inspections, sparking a new round of tension with the United States. President Bush has urged North Korea to allow inspections of its weapons programs, including nuclear and biological arms, warning "consequences" if the country refused. North Korean nuclear officials and engineers are traveling to South Korea to observe the country's nuclear facilities under a training protocol signed between North Korea and a U.S.-led international consortium, which is building light-water reactors in the North. In November, North Koreans toured nuclear facilities in Sweden and Spain. Hunger and poverty are widespread in the communist dictatorship, and the country receives U.S. aid even though the regime often rants against America. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! Write to same address to be off lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
