North Korea Has Three Nuclear Weapons, South Korean Spy Chief Says

North Korea Has Three Nuclear Weapons, South Korean Spy Chief Says

NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2002

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea's intelligence chief warned that North Korea built as many as three nuclear weapons in a plutonium program under way before a 1994 accord with the United States, officials said Monday.

North Korea is believed to have extracted up to 48 pounds of plutonium and built from one to three crude nuclear weapons before it shut down its Soviet-designed, weapons-grade, plutonium-producing, graphite-moderated reactors, National Intelligence Service Director Shin Kuhn said in a report to parliament.

Under the 1994 Agreed Framework, North Korea pledged to freeze its nuclear weapons program in return for a U.S. promise to build safer light-water nuclear power plants for the nation.

However, North Korea recently admitted that it has been pursuing a clandestine program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.

"North Korea is suspected to have already secured 7-22 kilograms (15-48 pounds) of plutonium before the inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency in May 1992, and produced one to three primitive nuclear bombs," Shin said in the report.

Previously, South Korea had estimated that North Korea had one or two nuclear bombs produced with up to 27 pounds of plutonium, a figure reiterated by Defense Minister Lee Jun.

In a rare news release, the spy agency said Shin noted "uranium-based nuclear bombs are built in three stages – research, test and production." South Korea is trying to figure out what stage the North Korean program has reached, Shin was quoted as saying.

The release also said that U.S. and South Korean intelligence were investigating whether any bombs resulted from the North's second nuclear program that involves uranium enrichment.

The South Korean government is trying to determine whether North Korea has conducted nuclear tests and if it has succeeded in reducing the weapons' size to fit onto missiles, Lee said.

South Korean Leader: Don't Punish the North

Despite rising demands of tougher actions against North Korea, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung stated he was opposed to any sanctions against the North. He called for international cooperation to seek a peaceful resolution to Pyongyang's nuclear issue.

Opposition presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang, the front-runner in public polls for coming elections, asked Kim's government to readjust the pace and size of economic assistance to the North until it halts its weapons programs.

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