268 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
268 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
news
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worldnews
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asia
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northkorea
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8149865
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-----
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# North Korea has built sophisticated uranium enrichment facility, US
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scientist says
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## North Korea has built a new sophisticated facility to enrich uranium,
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according to a leading American nuclear scientist.
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![Nuclear complex at Yongbyon][1]
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Image 1 of 2
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Two satellite images of the nuclear complex at Yongbyon, the one on the left
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taken Sept. 29, 2010, the other Nov. 18, the lattter shows a rectangular
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structure being built, with at least two cranes visible at the complex Photo:
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AP
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![Doctor Siegfried Hecker][2]
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Image 1 of 2
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'Instead of seeing a few small cascades of centrifuges, which I believed to
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exist in North Korea, we saw a modern, clean centrifuge plant of more than a
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thousand centrifuges, all neatly aligned and plumbed below us,' wrote Prof
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Hecker Photo: AP
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[![Alex Spillius][3]][4]
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By [Alex Spillius][5], Washington 7:12PM GMT 21 Nov 2010
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[Follow Alex Spillius on Twitter][6]
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The news raises fears that the secretive regime is capable of expanding its
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atomic programme despite years of international pressure.
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Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory,
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returned last week from a visit to the Yongbyon complex, where he was shown a
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small-scale industrial uranium enrichment facility that was "astonishingly
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modern" and would "would fit into any modern American processing facility".
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[**North Korean**][7] officials told him the plant contained 2,000 centrifuges
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designed to manufacture uranium for civilian nuclear power, though he
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concluded the centrifuges "could be readily converted to produce highly
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enriched uranium bomb fuel".
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"Instead of seeing a few small cascades of centrifuges, which I believed to
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exist in North Korea, we saw a modern, clean centrifuge plant of more than a
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thousand centrifuges, all neatly aligned and plumbed below us," wrote Prof
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Hecker in a report posted on the website of Stanford University, where he
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works.
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It was the fourth visit Prof Hecker had made to Yongbyon since 2004. The North
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Koreans appear to have invited him and two Stanford colleagues in order to
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send a message to Washington that they are seeking more concessions as a
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condition of resuming of nuclear disarmament-for-aid talks, which the North
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abandoned in April 2009.
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## Related Articles
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* [Inside North Korea - exclusive][8]
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28 Nov 2010
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* [North Korea building new reactor][9]
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19 Nov 2010
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* [North Korea 'runs international nuclear smuggling network'][10]
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12 Nov 2010
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The revelation could also have been designed to strengthen the North Korean
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government as it looks to transfer power from leader Kim Jong-il to his son
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Kim Jong-un.
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The report came as Stephen Bosworth, the top US envoy for North Korea, was due
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to arrive in Asia yesterday [Sun] for talks with regional leaders on kick-
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starting the stalled six-party nuclear talks.
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Adm Mike Mullen, the Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff, accused Pyongyang
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of "belligerent behaviour".
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"From my perspective, it's North Korea continuing on a path which is
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destabilising for the region," the top US military official, told CNN.
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"It confirms or validates the concern we've had for years about their
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enriching uranium which they've denied routinely and that when I look at this,
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it is consistent with belligerent behaviour, and the kind of instability
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creation in a part of the world that is very dangerous," he added.
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North Korea, despite continued grave economic problems, staged its second
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nuclear test last year. But in recent months it has expressed conditional
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willingness to return to dialogue.
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Uranium enrichment would give the North a second way to make atom bombs, in
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addition to its known plutonium-based programme. At low levels, uranium can be
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used in power reactors, but at higher levels it can be used in nuclear bombs.
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[X][11] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][12]
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* Share: [Share][11] [ ][13] [ ][14]
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[Tweet][15]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/8149865/North-Korea-
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has-built-sophisticated-uranium-enrichment-facility-US-scientist-says.html
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Telegraph
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## [North Korea][16]
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* ### [News »][17]
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* ### [World News »][18]
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* ### [Asia »][19]
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* ### [Alex Spillius »][4]
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In news
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[![One of North Korea's Kim Jong-il's palatial mansions from Google Earth][20]
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][21]
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### [North Korea from above][21]
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[![Kim Jong-il, Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Un][22] ][23]
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### [Keeping it in the family][23]
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[![South Korea holds large live-fire drills ][24] ][25]
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### [South Korea holds large live-fire drills][25]
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[![Soldiers from a South Korean army armoured division take part in an annual
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river-crossing exercise against a possible attack from North Korea on the Han
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river in Yeoju][26] ][27]
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### [Timeline: North Korea's conflict with the South][27]
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[![A growing group of North Korean dissidents are risking their lives to
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secretly film inside the repressive regime before smuggling the tapes across
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the Chinese border to show the outside world what is happening to their
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countrymen. ][28] ][8]
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### [Inside North Korea - exclusive][8]
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[X][11] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][12]
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Share:
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* [ ][11]
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* [ ][13]
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* [ ][14]
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* [Tweet][15]
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* Advertisement
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![][29]
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Advertisement
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[Follow The Telegraph on Social Media »][30]
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Like Telegraph.co.uk on Facebook
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var puffs_8120657 = new Array();
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