North Korea trying to enrich uranium, South says

By Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea appears to be enriching uranium, potentially giving the state that has twice tested a plutonium-based nuclear device another path to making atomic weapons, South Korea's defence minister said on Tuesday.

"It is clear that they are moving forward with it," Defence Minister Lee Sang-hee told a parliamentary hearing, adding such a programme was far easier to hide than the North's current plutonium-based activities.

North Korea earlier this month responded to U.N. punishment for its most recent nuclear test in May by saying it would start enriching uranium for a light-water reactor.

Experts said destitute North Korea lacks the technology and resources to build such a costly civilian reactor but may use the programme as a cover to enrich uranium for weapons.

North Korea, which has ample supplies of natural uranium, would be able to conduct an enrichment programme in underground or undisclosed facilities and away from the prying eyes of U.S. spy satellites.

The North's plutonium programme uses an ageing reactor and is centred at its Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear plant, which has been watched by U.S. aerial reconnaissance for years.

Proliferation experts said the North has purchased equipment needed for uranium enrichment, including centrifuges and high-strength aluminium tubes, but they doubt that Pyongyang has seriously pursued the project.

"It seems unlikely that North Korea will succeed in establishing a substantial enrichment capability ... in the near term," nuclear expert Hui Zhang wrote in an article this month in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, adding outside help from the likes of Pyongyang's ally Iran could speed up the process.