Tokyo, July 12: The United States has said that North Korea has begun reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods, which would enable it to develop nuclear weapons, after it collected first physical evidence from Pyongyyang's nuclear sites, a report said today. US intelligence officials have detected krypton 85, a reprocessing byproduct, in air samples collected from Yongbyon Nuclear Complex, north of the capital Pyongyang, said a news agency report quoting a US government source.
The White House received the first physical evidence indicating that North Korea has begun reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods on Thursday, the report said. At China-brokered talks with the US in Beijing in April, North Korea claimed to possessing nuclear weapons and to have reprocessed nuclear fuel rods.
The US has been trying to verify the North Korean claim using satellites and spy planes. South Korean intelligence officials have also claimed that North Korea had begun reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods in a progamme that could yield enough plutonium for half a dozen atomic bombs within months. Bureau Report