If they have “scrammed” the plant, it is not operating so it is doing nothing and the rods can be removed. You cannot remove rods from a plant that is running so, one wonders exactly what is going on.
Soviet Era, damaged reactor core, compute the megatonnage for this sucker!
I was thinking the same thing. Kim Jong probably changed his mind about the rods themselves and now it is being spun as technical challenges. So fine, they can’t remove them before the end of the year. How about a statement saying they will all be removed and shipped to the US in three months exactly? Something is not right.