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Jun 30, 2009, 12:38 GMT

North Korea enriching uranium, Seoul says

Seoul - North Korea is enriching uranium, which could produce fuel for nuclear weapons, South Korea's defence minister said Tuesday. 'It seems it is definitely being pursued,' Lee Sang Hee said at a National Assembly hearing. Highly enriched uranium can be used to produce atomic weapons, and Lee said uranium enrichment can be more easily hid from the international community than producing weapons-suitable plutonium from spent nuclear fuel. North Korea announced in mid-June that it would produce further nuclear weapons and conduct uranium enrichment in response to an expansion of sanctions against it by the UN Security Council after North Korea conducted its second nuclear test May 25. It said it intended to turn newly created plutonium stores into nuclear weapons and accelerate uranium-enrichment projects with the construction of a series of light-water reactors. The United States has suspected for years that North Korea has had a uranium-enrichment programme as part of its efforts to produce atomic bombs. Lee also suggested Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's health could be deteriorating. South Korean intelligence agencies have said Kim, 67, suffered a stroke in August. South Korea's military 'is intensely monitoring [the situation] while bearing in mind the possibilities that Kim's health has degraded,' Lee said, citing speculation that the South's totalitarian neighbour recently fabricated a report on a field inspection by Kim by using an old photo of the leader.

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