According to a US official, North Korea could buy time to build up and refine its nuclear arsenal, including a warhead able to survive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, if it manages to drag out any talks with Washington.
Even if North Korea freezes nuclear detonations and missile tests during such talks – as South Korea has said Pyongyang offered to do – there is plenty of other technical work it could pursue while diplomatic efforts are under way, they say.
Such work could include completing development of a re-entry vehicle that can deliver a nuclear weapon, production of rocket frames, engines and mobile launchers and increasing the output of plutonium and highly enriched uranium for bomb-making.
“North Korea can be expected to proceed on all these things … unless an agreement freezes or stops these activities, something unlikely in the short run,” said David Albright, a nuclear non-proliferation expert who heads Washington’s Institute for Science and International Security.
Source: Reuters
No comments:
Post a Comment