U.S. Cites Signs of Korean Preparations for Nuclear Test
May 6, 2005
By DAVID E. SANGER and WILLIAM J. BROAD
WASHINGTON, May 5 - White House and Pentagon officials are closely monitoring a recent stream of satellite photographs of North Korea that appear to show rapid, extensive preparations for a nuclear weapons test, including the construction of a reviewing stand, presumably for dignitaries, according to American and foreign officials who have been briefed on the imagery.
... Since October, American officials have periodically seen activity suggesting preparations for a nuclear test, chiefly at the site in the northeast part of the country, near an area variously called Kilchu or Kilju. But in recent weeks, that activity appears to have accelerated.
Several officials said they had never before seen Korean preparations as advanced as those detected in recent days, including the digging of a tunnel. That tunnel resembles the one used in Pakistan for nuclear tests in 1998.
One of the creators of Pakistan's program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, traveled to North Korea repeatedly and has admitted to Pakistani interrogators that he supplied nuclear technology to the North, American intelligence officials said....
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