SEOUL - North Korea is presumed to have sufficient stockpiles of
weapons-grade highly enriched uranium to build three to six atomic
bombs, a local nuclear expert said Wednesday.
The communist state is thought to be planning to conduct a third
nuclear test soon in what appears to be a move to make up for last
month's botched rocket and raise its bargaining power with the
West.
As the North claims it has some 2,000 centrifuges in operation,
it is believed to have produced some 40 kilograms of HEU a year ?
enough to produce one or two bombs annually.
Assuming that the North turned its military nuclear program from
a plutonium-based one to an HEU one in 2009, the expert, who
declined to be named, said that Pyongyang might have developed
three to six bombs over the last two or three years.
Taking the world by surprise, the North unveiled its uranium
enrichment facility at its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon to
American scientist Siegfried Hecker in November 2010.
"We presume that the North began its uranium enrichment research
since the late 1980s. The scale of its enrichment facility and the
level of nuclear technology have yet to be known," the expert
said.
"There is a high possibility that the North uses the technology
for military purposes and has centrifuges at a separate third
place."
The North has its nuclear test site in Gilju, North Hamgyeong
Province
