North Korea - Yongbyon satellite photos indicate reactor is in operation

Yonhap News (South Korea) ^ | May 13, 2006

[HAL9000]

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Yonhap) -- Satellite images indicate activity at a North Korean nuclear reactor suspected of producing weapons-grade material, according to an online security organization on Saturday.

Four satellite photos of the five-megawatt reactor in Yongbyon, North Korea, taken on Jan. 5 this year show vehicles and containers near the main building that were absent in images taken on March 5, 2003.

The photos appear on the web site of Global Security (GlobalSecurity.Org), an Internet organization providing background information on defense, space and intelligence since it was launched in 2000.

The Yongbyon reactor, claimed by North Koreans to be an "experimental lab," is believed to have churned out enough weapons-grade plutonium to allow the communist state to build as many as half a dozen atomic weapons.

After a head-on confrontation in late 2002 with the United States, which accused it of harboring a clandestine uranium-based nuclear weapons program in addition to the one using plutonium, Pyongyang expelled international monitors inspecting the Yongbyon facility and unilaterally left the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.

It then declared that it restarted the Yongbyon reactor in February 2003 and announced two years later it possessed nuclear weapons.

The January imagery showed a plume of smoke coming out of the reactor, not seen in February 2000, indicating the facility is indeed in operation.

The photos also showed that a dirt path leading to the facility has been paved, compared to photos from Sept. 29, 2004.

The smoke from the reactor is heavier when compared to Sept. 29, 2004, but Global Security determined that it appears related to temperature and humidity rather than increased activity.

[Marine_Uncle]

The other madman we have to eventually deal with.

[mkjessup]

"The photos also showed that a dirt path leading to the facility has been paved, compared to photos from Sept. 29, 2004."

This suggests that the mighty North Korean military machine has made the leap from having peasants pull carts laden with enriched uranium over a dirt road, to peasants carrying individual pellets of uranium on bicycles.

[NonValueAdded]

So the glow as seen from the sky won't be the peasants using candles to find their way along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, but rather the glow from the peasants themselves along the Little Kim Trail.

[PghBaldy]

IIRC, Kim has said he will give nukes to terrorists.

[RS]

"The smoke from the reactor is heavier when compared to Sept. 29, 2004, ..."

smoke ? since when do reactors give off smoke ?

They release steam from the cooling towers if they have them.

[LSUfan]

Can you reference that?

[LSUfan]

This should certainly be no surprise. North Korea was suspected of having between 1 and 3 nuclear weapons as long ago as 1998. When they removed the seals from that reactor, everyone paying attention knew that they were starting production on an arsenal of atomic warheads.

The lesson from North Korea is clearly that we cannot allow rogue regimes to get nuclear weapons, because then they become untouchable and an ongoing threat in many ways.

Now we have to settle for keeping North Korea from proliferating weapons elsewhere. The fact that they have been cooperating with Iran on ballistic missiles for years and just recently supplied Iran with new IRBMs capable of reaching Europe should be a huge red flag.

What is to stop North Korea from sending highly enriched uranium, or even a complete bomb or bombs to Iran in return for oil or money?

Atomic Ayatollahs worry me much more than Kim Jong il. The Ayatollahs have a clause in their constitution requiring them to spread the Islamic revolution around the world. A single atomic bomb would provide an umbrella that would allow them to do so without fear of attack on their homeland.

[NonValueAdded]

I'm more worried about how NK is cozying up to Chavez. "Sure, Kim, I'll give you all the oil you want if you give me a warhead."

[LSUfan]

A matter of concern to be sure. And Chavez is also close to the Iranians as well.

[Candor7]

Kim Jung Ill:

We are oporwating at only one /100 powah, and expewimenting with the folmurah :

E=MC sqwarled Aw

M= E /c sqwarled, to make mass consumable by my stawrfing people.

Send Hahns Brix to see me!

( Does the term breeder reactor mean anything to anyone?)

[PghBaldy]

I will look for it. It MAY have been another govt official of NK... I will look.

[PghBaldy]

http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/721_reports/jan_jun2003.htm#5 Nuclear. In late April 2003 during the Beijing talks, North Korea privately threatened to export nuclear weapons. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,75159,00.html --April 24, 2003: North Korea's lead official at nuclear weapons talks in China told Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly that his country has nuclear weapons and may test, export or use them depending on U.S. actions, a senior U.S. official said. From what I've read, it was during the lunch break. I can't find evidence that they said they'd export them to terrorists, but that is what I remember. I remember laughing at the blatant threat, it startled me so. Now, I've learned that they say all kinds of things, it often seems when they aren't getting enough attention... I'm NOT saying they are a threat, but there seems to be a pattern with these thugs.

[freddymuldoon]

Didn't Clinton have a hand in all this?

[PghBaldy]

Yes. Jimmuh Carter also. IIRC, he annoyed Clinton too. Sorry to butt in. I've been seraching for a while on info about something I posted above...

[Candor7]

Didn't Clinton have a hand in all this?>>>>>>

He had a hand , his johnson AND his fat hamburger a$$.

He placated Kim Jung Il, who took all the food subsidies and fed his armed forces while the civilians, women and children starved to death.In other words Clinton sunsidized nuclear development on humanitarian grounds.

Liberal idiot compassion knows no bounds.

[Marine_Uncle]

Agree with all you had to say. The problem is how does one stop any of these rogue states from developing nuclear weapons when they always end up being supported by the Russians and or Chicoms. They all know Russia and China want to offset the balance of power between them and the west (USA).
So as you are well aware play the game. Pretty soon we'll hear about Chavez wanting nuclear power plants, and wanting to develop the fuel cycle.

[LSUfan]

Already happened. Chavez announced a few months ago he was interested in nuclear power and was contacting Iran to help Venezuela develop it.

[Marine_Uncle]

I have no doubt your reply is accurate.