ROK: DPRK Reprocessing of Spent Rods not Confirmed

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, July 15, 2003

ROK: DPRK Reprocessing of Spent Rods not Confirmed

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The Republic of Korea (ROK) has "no scientific evidence" that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has reprocessed all its spent nuclear fuel rods, ROK President Roh Moo-hyun's foreign policy adviser said Monday.

"We're not at the stage of being able to confirm anything," foreign adviser Ban Ki-moon told a meeting of presidential secretaries, according to minutes released by the president's office.

"At present, as we have said, there is no scientific evidence" that Pyongyang had completed reprocessing, he said.

On Sunday, the ROK's Yonhap news agency quoted a former Seoul intelligence official as saying DPRK diplomats based at the United Nations had told US officials the reprocessing had been completed in June at the DPRK's Yongbyon nuclear complex.

Reprocessing the 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods would enable the DPRK to add to an atomic arsenal that Western intelligence agencies estimate already includes one or two such weapons.

The Yonhap report was based on an account of a US-DPRK meeting provided by Chang Sung-min, a top intelligence aide to former ROKpresident Kim Dae-jung, Roh's predecessor.

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