Tokyo Shimbun (newspaper) in Japan reported on the 4th that the declaration submitted by North Korea last week indicates that 26 kg of plutonium were used for the production of nuclear weapons.
The newspaper quoted a source from the Six Party Talks that said “North Korea declared that the total amount of produced plutonium was approximately 38.5 kg, 31kg of it was extracted for production of the nuclear weapons; 26 kg of it was actually used for the nuclear weapons and around 2kg were used for the nuclear test in October, 2006.”
It added that “2 kg of plutonium is just waste and 7.5 kg of the total extracted plutonium remains in the fuel rods.”
On June 28, Kyoto News Agency reported that the plutonium amount extracted by North Korea was around 30 kg. The total amount, including the amount of plutonium remaining in the fuel rods after being used (8kg) and also in the other nuclear devices (6kg), is, in all, 44kg.
North Korean envoy Kim Kye Gwan explained to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill in December, 2007 that the total amount of plutonium was around 30kg, that 18kg was used for nuclear development and around 6 kg was used for the nuclear test. Following this, the U.S. revealed that the amount was less than its estimates.
Tokyo Shimbun interpreted that “At the time, Kim would have explained that way because of confusion between the extracted amount and the produced amount. One other possibility is that during this time, North Korea chose to declare it after accepting the U.S. indication.”
It continued that “Even though it depends on the level of technology, the 26 kg of plutonium declared by North Korea can be generally manufactured into 3-8 nuclear weapons.”
