North Korea admits nuke program
cnn.com
From Andrea Koppel and John King
CNN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (CNN) --North Korea has revealed to the United States that it has a secret and active nuclear weapons program begun years after it promised to never again to pursue such a course, the White House said late Wednesday.
One senior administration official said Pyongyang made the acknowledgment only after it was confronted with evidence that it has a uranium-based program and enough plutonium for at least two nuclear weapons.
The North's admission prompted urgent consultations among the United States, Japan and South Korea -- the three nations that North Korea had promised under the so-called "agreed framework."
The diplomatic term describes the 1994 agreement under which North Korea said it would no longer seek to develop nuclear weapons, and in exchange the United States and others agreed to provide the light-water nuclear technology for power generation.
The North confirmed U.S. suspicions earlier this month during a high-level U.S. visit to Pyongyang, led by James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for Asian affairs.
"They are in material breach of the agreed framework," White House spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Following the North's admission, McCormack said a series of internal administration meetings about how to respond were held, culminating in a National Security Council meeting on the issue Tuesday.
President Bush is scheduled to meet jointly with the prime ministers of Japan and South Korea later this month at the annual Asian Pacific economic summit.
Another senior administration official said the United States told North Korea it had "violated" the agreed framework and that the agreement was now "nullified."
The official said the revelation came in a meeting between Kelly and a top North Korean official, Kang Suk Ju, described as the equivalent of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's right-hand man.
The official said Kelly told Kang that the United States knew the country had a secret nuclear weapons program using "different technology" from that used prior to 1994, and that North Korea had saved enough plutonium for at least two nuclear weapons.
The North Korean official then shocked Kelly when he looked at him and said "something to the effect of, 'Your president called us a member of the axis of evil. ... Your troops are deployed on the Korean Peninsula. ... Of course, we have a nuclear program,'" according to the senior administration source, who was briefed on the meeting.
Nevertheless, the Bush administration intends to keep talking with North Korea and does not intend to put discussions about disarming North Korea on hold, the administration source said.
"It's not a show stopper," he said.
Another senior U.S. official told CNN that Washington received intelligence "back over the summer months" indicating that North Korea had a nuclear weapons program involving the use of highly enriched uranium.
The intelligence, the official said, indicated the program was launched in the late 1990s -- several years after North Korea signed the agreement with the United States, Japan and South Korea.
The official said that when Kelly confronted the top North Korean official with information about the nuclear weapons program on October 4, the North Koreans were "belligerent" but did not dispute the U.S. claim and "showed not a hint of remorse."
The administration had already shared some of its intelligence with key congressional committees.
In his State of the Union address earlier this year, Bush referred to North Korea as a member of the "axis of evil," along with Iraq and Iran -- a statement rejected by Pyongyang. |
