North Korea vows to restart shuttered nuclear reactor that can make bomb-grade plutonium

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/north-korea-to-restart-shuttered-nuclear-reactor/2013/04/02/7c9b7c2a-9b6c-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html?hpid=z1


From the CFR Daily News Brief 4/2

Daily News Brief April 2, 2013

Top of the Agenda: North Korea Announces Plans to Restart Reactor

North Korea announced Tuesday it was restarting its main Yongbyon nuclear reactor (Yonhap) that had been closed since 2007 as part of international nuclear disarmament talks, which have since stalled. UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for urgent talks with the North, saying the "crisis has gone too far." The announcement comes amid soaring tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the United States bolstered its forces in the region after a series of threats (Reuters) by Pyongyang to attack U.S. bases in the Pacific and to invade South Korea.

Analysis

"Where we've seen provocations, they've been guerrilla-style provocations, not something signaled in advance. North Koreans usually want the element of surprise. They have an interest in provocation where prospects of escalation are limited, and they benefit from ambiguity of attribution. I worry more about North Korea when they are not rattling the sabre," says CFR's Scott Snyder.

"Washington is not acting entirely on behalf of Seoul when it comes to the North Korean threat: Pyongyang's nuclear and long-range missile programs are targeted at the American public. And the Kim regime appears to think that if it can demonstrate the capability to hit the West Coast of the United States with a nuclear warhead, Washington may have second thoughts on its treaty commitments to the defense of South Korea," writes Sung-Yoon Lee for Foreign Policy.

"Tokyo, Seoul, and Washington have been on alert amid Pyongyang's repeated threats. But they believe North Korea's words are aimed at winning concessions from the United States, not taking action that could prompt a devastating retaliation from the U.S. military," writes Asahi Shimbun.

North Korea to restart Yongbyon nuclear reactor Guardianhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/02/north-korea-yongbyon-nuclear-reactor

N. Korea to Dedicate Plants to Nuke Work

from GSN Daily News

North Korea on Tuesday declared it would dedicate more facilities at its Yongbyon complex to producing nuclear-weapon material, including a uranium enrichment plant, a deactivated reactor and an unfinished light-water reactor, the New York Times reported.
"We will act on this without delay," an official with the North's Atomic Energy General Department said to the Korean Central News Agency.http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/north-korea-plans-revive-mothballed-reactor/