Report: North Korea restarted nuclear reactor before July talks
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-22 09:28

North Korea restarted a nuclear reactor before it returned to multinational talks in July on its nuclear programs, a newspaper said Sunday, AP reported.

A U.S. reconnaissance satellite detected steam coming from a boiler connected to a nuclear reactor building, the national newspaper Asahi Shimbun said, quoting unnamed "officials close to the six-way talks including American high-ranking officials."

In the Washington-datelined report, Asahi said it was the same reactor from which North Korea said it had completed removing 8,000 fuel rods in May for possible reprocessing of spent fuel.

No steam had been detected after the reactor was shut down in March and April, according to the newspaper.

A U.S. official told the newspaper that the steam could be a sign that the reactor at the North's main nuclear complex at Yongbyon had been restarted.

It said there also were signs that construction work on another reactor may have resumed at Yongbyon.

Asahi said that officials at the latest round of the six-nation talks _ held in Beijing from July 26 to August 7 _ discussed the reactor and the possible start of construction work, but the newspaper did not give details.

"Though North Korea indicated it was ready to give up these nuclear reactors, it is steadily expanding its nuclear development," the newspaper quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying.

Officials at Japan's Foreign Ministry were not available Sunday.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, who is in Washington for talks with U.S. officials, told CNN on Sunday that he had no "confirmed information on this matter."

"We have been closely monitoring this and exchanging information with the U.S.," he said. "As we have agreed during the six-party talks the last time, the participating countries, particularly North Korea, should not make any major actions" that could affect the ongoing negotiations, he said.

The latest round of talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear ambitions is in recess after the six countries failed to reach agreement. The North insists it should still have the right to "peaceful" nuclear activities, but Washington wants the Korean Peninsula to be nuclear-free.

The talks are scheduled to resume in the week of August 29 in Beijing.

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