NK Sent Nuclear Material to Libya
LGF
Here’s a disturbing report that indicates the nuclear black market is alive and well, and that Muammar Gaddafi is not as “reformed” as he would like us to believe:
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North Korea May Have Sent Libya Nuclear Material, U.S. Tells Allies.
North Korea has reprocessed 8,000 spent fuel rods into weapons-grade plutonium and appears to have exported nuclear material to Libya, U.S. officials informed Asian allies this week.
Two senior officials on the National Security Council, Michael J. Green and William Tobey, told key officials in Asia about the alarming intelligence, a U.S. official said last night. He said the “sole reason” for the trip — officially billed as consultations about possible talks with North Korea about its nuclear program — was to brief Japan, South Korea and China about the information.
The nuclear material that North Korea may have exported to Libya was uranium hexafluoride. This is not fissile material but can be enriched into weapons-grade material if it is fed into nuclear centrifuges. Thus, it is considered material that could eventually be used in weapons, making the discovery of the sale disturbing to U.S. officials.
The Bush administration has been grappling for four years about what to do about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. The new information could raise the pressure to act because it suggests that North Korea not only is expanding its program but also could be actively exporting nuclear material.
The determination that North Korea provided the uranium hexafluoride was made by a technical group within the Energy Department. It examined containers obtained from Libya — which gave up its nuclear programs in a deal with the United States and Britain — and picked up signatures of plutonium produced at Yongbyon, where North Korea has its nuclear facilities. The U.S. official said that because North Korea probably would have produced much of the uranium hexafluoride at the Yongbyon facility, this was deemed the link that connected the material in the containers to the North Koreans.
“This was not a conclusion reached by the CIA” or the intelligence bureau at the State Department, said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the intelligence matter. “This was the lab technicians from DOE.”
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UPDATE at 2/2/05 1:00:52 pm:
Although the Washington Post article is murky on this point, it appears the nuclear material in question was shipped to Libya before they abandoned their nuke program. But the more alarming question is, how many other Arab dictatorships have received shipments from North Korea?
by Charles
littlegreenfootballs.com |
