Kim Sung Hwan, who heads South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has warned of the possibility that North Korea is planning to detonate a nuclear device utilizing highly enriched uranium, rather than the plutonium devices of the past.
Kim, who was testifying before the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee of the National Assembly today, asserted, “In 2010 the [uranium enrichment] facility [at Yongbyon] was made public, and if we speculate based on that then it appears they have extracted a certain amount of weapons-grade enriched uranium.”
Equally, he added, “Because the Yongbyon nuclear reactor has been closed down, plutonium extraction is no longer possible.”
Kim also attempted to extrapolate from past precedent when the North Korean nuclear test might take place. “Any time is possible,” he admitted, adding that “it is hard for us to predict.” However, he went on, “their past nuclear tests happened on U.S. holidays; Columbus Day (October 9th) and Memorial Day (May 25th).”
“From this fact, we can guess that February 12th, the day the U.S. President gives his new year’s State of the Union address, or February 18th, U.S. Presidents’ Day, could be the day the nuclear test is conducted. In addition, Kim Jong Il’s birthday, February 16th, is also possible.”
