Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2006/10/03/north_korea_nuke_test/
North Korea to test nuclear warhead
Radioactive sabre-rattling
Posted in Science, 3rd October 2006 10:54 GMT
North Korea has announced it will test one of its nuclear warheads, the BBC reports. North Korea's foreign ministry declared: "[North Korea] will in the future conduct a nuclear test under the condition where safety is firmly guaranteed."
It added provocatively: "The US daily increasing threat of a nuclear war and its vicious sanctions and pressure have caused a grave situation on the Korean Peninsula."
The ministry said North Korea "can no longer remain an on-looker to the developments" - a reference to "vicious" US sanctions which have caused a situation where "the US moves to isolate and stifle" the country.
The Pyongyang regime is under considerable US-led pressure to cease and desist its nuclear weapons programme. In 1994, it signed an agreement to "freeze all nuclear-related activities", but in December 2002 restarted its Yongbyon reactor and booted two UN nuclear monitors out of the country.
A fully-operational Yongbyon reactor could, the BBC notes, "produce enough plutonium to build approximately one weapon per year". Google Earth features a nice view of the Yongbyon facility, as seen here:
