US Detects North Korea`s Moving Of Spent Fuel Rods

A new phase of the nuclear standoff is developing on the Korean Peninsula over North Korea`s nuclear ambition. North Korea is suspected of moving its nuclear spent fuel rods out of the Yongbyong facilities to some unknown place. In response, the US Pacific Command has asked for a military buildup around the peninsula.

U.S. officials said Friday that spy satellites have detected covered trucks apparently taking on cargo at the North`s main nuclear facility, where spent nuclear fuel rods are stored, reported The New York Times on Friday. According to the paper, the US officials are worried that North Korea may be getting ready to make four or five nuclear weapons, The New York Times also reported.

"Throughout January, intelligence analysts have seen extensive activity at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, with some trucks pulling up to the building housing the storage pond," the paper said.

American intelligence analysts have informally concluded that the movement of the rods, combined with other activity that now appears to be under way at the Yongbyon complex, could allow North Korea to begin producing bomb-grade plutonium by the end of March.

In this regard, a South Korean official said yesterday, "There`s still a debate about exactly what we are seeing and how provocative it is. The concern of the Bush administration is an expression of its basic position, I believe."

CBS News reported earlier that the top U.S. military commander in the Pacific has asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for about 2,000 more troops, mostly Air Force personnel, to join the 37,000 U.S. troops already in South Korea.

The proposal includes a deployment of 24 B-52 and B-1 bombers to Guam, which lies within the striking range from the Korean Peninsula. And it also calls for additional dispatching of F-15E and U-2 spy planes to US air bases in South Korea and Japan.

The New York Times, citing Defense Department officials, reported that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is more likely to approve the request for military buildup. It added that deployment of another aircraft carrier is to make up for the possible vacuum arising from sending Kitty Hawk to Iraq, which is now staying at a naval base in Japan.

But a South Korean senior official said yesterday, "We have not received any notice from the US Command in Korea regarding the reported military buildup. It is necessary to make up for the loss in readiness caused by deployment of Kitty Hawk to the Gulp area. Thus, it`s not appropriate to define the recent move as the military response of the United States to the nuclear standoff with North."

Ki-Heung Han Dong-Ki Sung eligius@donga.com esprit@donga.com