S.Korea confirms plutonium test in 1982
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-09 17:15

South Korean government scientists enriched a small amount of plutonium in a one-off experiment in 1982, the Science and Technology Ministry said on Thursday.

Seoul is already seeking to play down the diplomatic impact of an unsanctioned laser enrichment test involving uranium at the state-run Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute amid efforts to restart six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear issue.

A ministry statement said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, had checked details of the previously unreported plutonium experiment. Seoul has denied having had any desire to develop a nuclear weapons capability.

Investigations showed an "extremely small quantity of plutonium was enriched between April and May, 1982".

"South Korea will sincerely adhere to its obligations under the IAEA's safety regulations and the Non-Proliferation Treaty," the statement said, referring to the nuclear treaty that underpins global efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

The test took place at a research centre in a suburb of Seoul before the atomic institute moved to Taejon, south of the capital, where the uranium test was conducted four years ago.

"The South Korean government has been in talks with the IAEA on the investigation into the issue for several years," a Foreign Ministry spokesman told Reuters earlier, referring to the plutonium experiment.

The Science and Technology Ministry statement was the latest twist in a story that began last Thursday when South Korea said scientists had conducted an unsanctioned uranium enrichment test as an inquisitive by-product of unrelated laser experiments.

Treaty violation?

Those scientists enriched a trace amount of uranium in three laser tests conducted in January and February 2000. The centre's main role is research into nuclear energy. South Korea has 19 nuclear reactors supplying 40 percent of the country's power.

Officials have declined to say whether either unauthorised test violated the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

South Korea will make a pitch to the IAEA governors at the watchdog's Vienna headquarters next week to help ensure the nuclear agency reaches a conclusion "that matches the facts and is balanced", Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday.

The experiments at the government nuclear research laboratory enriched 0.2 grams of uranium.

Western diplomats in Vienna have said the level of enrichment accomplished was close to weapons grade, but South Korea's top nuclear scientist, Chang In-soon, said on Wednesday that was speculation.

North Korea, in its first comment on the development, said the uranium experiment was a "dangerous movement" that could trigger a nuclear arms race in northeast Asia.

"We view South Korea's uranium enrichment programme in the context of an arms race in Northeast Asia," Yonhap quoted Han Song-ryol, deputy chief of North Korea's mission to the United Nations, as saying in an interview in New York on Wednesday.

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