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CNN Live Sunday
U.S. Suspects Second Plant In North Korea
Aired July 21, 2003 - 18:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Trouble in another country labeled by the Bush administration as part of the Axis of Evil - North Korea. New evidence that North Korea has a second nuclear weapons facility in operation.
More now on that from CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Plante in Washington. Hi, Chris.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON: Hi, Fredricka.
Yes, there's some concern and suspicion here tonight that North Korea may be operating a second, secret, possibly underground nuclear processing facility in addition to the one already known operating facility in North Korea. That's in a location called Yongbyon.
It's been known for some time that North Korea has been reprocessing up to 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods at that location in Yongbyon. And they've been reprocessing this in an effort to extract plutonium, presumably for the production of additional nuclear weapons.
U.S. intelligence analysts suggest that they could produce six, perhaps as many as 12 additional nuclear weapons with the reprocessed fuel.
It's believed now that North Korea has one, two and possibly three nuclear weapons already in their inventory. And there's a good deal of concern about their producing more.
Now, this intelligence, we're told, is a little bit sketchy and there's a bit of guesswork going on here.
But the assessment is based on air samples that were taken outside of North Korean territory through a variety of methods. And these air samples have detected over the past several weeks the presence of an element, a gas known as krypton-85. Krypton-85 is a byproduct of this reprocessing.
Now, some additional analysis that went into this suggested that it's possible that this gas that they had detected was not coming from Yongbyon, but from another facility that the U.S. has not been aware of.
So there's a good deal of concern there, because, for one thing, if the Bush administration were interested in exercising a military option and going after their nuclear capability, they know of only one site and not the second.
The other concern is, of course, proliferation, which North Korea is know for - Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, Chris, why is there suspicion that these particles are coming from a second plant, and not necessarily from the first one that U.S. authorities already know about?
PLANTE: Well, there's not a great deal of clarity on that. That's part of the intelligence analysis that officials are not being very forthcoming with. But my understanding is that it has to do with the location in which this gas was detected - the Krypton-95.
And it appears, because they're catching this from downwind drafts, that it may not be coming from where they thought it would be coming from, so that's raised some eyebrows in Washington, and they're watching it very closely - Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: OK. Chris Plante in Washington at the Pentagon. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 21, 2003 - 18:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Trouble in another country labeled by the Bush administration as part of the Axis of Evil - North Korea. New evidence that North Korea has a second nuclear weapons facility in operation.
More now on that from CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Plante in Washington. Hi, Chris.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON: Hi, Fredricka.
Yes, there's some concern and suspicion here tonight that North Korea may be operating a second, secret, possibly underground nuclear processing facility in addition to the one already known operating facility in North Korea. That's in a location called Yongbyon.
It's been known for some time that North Korea has been reprocessing up to 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods at that location in Yongbyon. And they've been reprocessing this in an effort to extract plutonium, presumably for the production of additional nuclear weapons.
U.S. intelligence analysts suggest that they could produce six, perhaps as many as 12 additional nuclear weapons with the reprocessed fuel.
It's believed now that North Korea has one, two and possibly three nuclear weapons already in their inventory. And there's a good deal of concern about their producing more.
Now, this intelligence, we're told, is a little bit sketchy and there's a bit of guesswork going on here.
But the assessment is based on air samples that were taken outside of North Korean territory through a variety of methods. And these air samples have detected over the past several weeks the presence of an element, a gas known as krypton-85. Krypton-85 is a byproduct of this reprocessing.
Now, some additional analysis that went into this suggested that it's possible that this gas that they had detected was not coming from Yongbyon, but from another facility that the U.S. has not been aware of.
So there's a good deal of concern there, because, for one thing, if the Bush administration were interested in exercising a military option and going after their nuclear capability, they know of only one site and not the second.
The other concern is, of course, proliferation, which North Korea is know for - Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, Chris, why is there suspicion that these particles are coming from a second plant, and not necessarily from the first one that U.S. authorities already know about?
PLANTE: Well, there's not a great deal of clarity on that. That's part of the intelligence analysis that officials are not being very forthcoming with. But my understanding is that it has to do with the location in which this gas was detected - the Krypton-95.
And it appears, because they're catching this from downwind drafts, that it may not be coming from where they thought it would be coming from, so that's raised some eyebrows in Washington, and they're watching it very closely - Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: OK. Chris Plante in Washington at the Pentagon. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
