New York, Jan 31: American spy satellites over North Korea have detected what appear to be trucks moving the country's stockpile of nuclear fuel rods out of storage, the 'New York Times' reported today. Citing US officials, the newspaper said the movement of the 8,000 nuclear fuel rods is prompting fears within President George W Bush's administration that North Korea is preparing to produce about a half dozen nuclear weapons. Intelligence analysts have seen activity at the Yongbyon nuclear complex throughout January, the Times said. The satellites could not see exactly what was being put into the trucks that pulled up to the building housing the storage pond. But analysts concluded it was likely that the rods were being transported to another site, either to get them out of sight, or to move them to a reprocessing plant to convert them into bomb-grade plutonium. US intelligence analysts have informally concluded that the movement of the rods, combined with other activity that now appears under way at the Yongbyon complex, could allow North Korea to begin producing bomb-grade plutonium by the end of March, the report said.

Several American officials told the Times that there were no indications that the Pentagon was preparing for a preemptive strike against the plant, and said Bush was still focused on reaching a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.

Yesterday, North Korea condemned a speech by Bush in which he called on Pyongyang to halt its nuclear weapons program. This was followed by an appeal from the North Korean envoy in China for international pressure on Washington to enter direct talks with Pyongyang over the nuclear impasse.

Bureau Report