North Korean Blast Ignites Worries in West

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WASHINGTON – Bold moves by rogue regimes in North Korea and Iran – a mysterious explosion and plans that could lead to the production of atom bombs – have Western governments worried that the two countries may be moving further to build nuclear arsenals.


Secretary of State Powell and the South Korean Foreign Ministry insisted yesterday a mysterious explosion that sent a 2-mile-wide mushroom cloud into the air last week in northern North Korea was not a nuclear test.


But Mr. Powell also confirmed reports that American intelligence agencies had received what he called “inconclusive” recent intelligence that Pyongyang may be preparing for a nuclear test.


The Daily Telegraph of London reported that Iran has revealed plans to enrich enough uranium yellowcake to produce five atom bombs to the International Atomic Energy Agency.


The IAEA meets today to begin discussions on a November deadline set by the European Union for the Islamic republic to dispel the international community’s concerns that its nuclear enrichment activities are not a covert effort to build an atom bomb.


President Bush dubbed Iran and North Korea members of the “axis of evil” two years ago. Despite the tough words, America has pursued diplomatic solutions to the crises over the two countries’ nuclear programs.


Talks are scheduled later this month between Pyongyang and envoys from America, China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea. In the last three meetings of the six-party talks, diplomats said the North Korean delegation has threatened to test a nuclear device, but these threats have been dismissed as bluster.


On “Fox News Sunday,” Mr. Powell said America was trying to learn more about an explosion in Ryanggang province on the Chinese border. South Korea’s Yonhap newspaper quoted a diplomatic source as saying the plume from the blast measured between 2.1 to 2.5 miles in diameter.


It said the blast was stronger than an April explosion that killed 160 people and injured an estimated 1,300 at a North Korean railway station when a train carrying oil and chemicals apparently hit power lines.


“We’ve seen reports of this explosion, but based on all of the information that we have, it was not any kind of nuclear event,” Mr. Powell said. “We’re trying to find out more about it and what exactly it was, if anything, but it does not appear to have been a nuclear event.”


On CNN yesterday, the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said the president would not rule out options for dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis, but is committed to the diplomatic option. “The president never rules out options, but I want to emphasize this is something that we believe can be dealt with diplomatically,” she said.


The six-party talks Mr. Bush hoped would persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear program that it pledged to halt in 1994 in a deal with the Clinton administration are scheduled for the end of the month, but South Korea’s foreign minister, Ban Ki-moon, told reporters last week the next negotiations would likely not occur soon.


“Under the current situation, it is hard to be optimistic about whether the six-nation talks can be held in the near future,” he said Friday.


Unlike North Korea, Iranian diplomats are scheduled to present its latest report to the IAEA in Vienna. The Daily Telegraph quoted a British foreign office spokesman as saying the Iranian intention to enrich 37 tons of uranium yellowcake was an obfuscation of the international agency’s efforts to get assurances regarding the Iranian nuclear program. “We are extremely concerned about all aspects of Iran’s nuclear program,” the spokesman was quoted as saying. “And we call on Iran to suspend all their nuclear activities, including the processing of uranium yellowcake.”


Coming from the British, which have favored engagement with the Iranians, this may signal a new resolve from Europe to get much tougher with Iran regarding its nuclear program.


France, Germany, and Britain yesterday circulated a draft resolution that would give the Iranians until November to dispel concerns from the international community that its recently disclosed nuclear program is not intended to build weapons.


The draft does specifically spell out clear consequences if Iran does not comply. American diplomats had wanted to take Iran’s violations to the United Nations Security Council to get the U.N. to impose economic sanctions on the Islamic republic.


The Reuters news agency quoted a diplomat in Vienna familiar with the draft as saying it includes several possibilities. One is a report to the Security Council, which might lead to economic sanctions. Another is that the board might choose to drop Iran from its agenda altogether. Or the IAEA may just continue with Iran the way it’s been going until now.


Iran’s official news agency yesterday quoted the spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry, Hamid Reza Asefi, as rejecting the proposed European deadline. The agency also quoted Mr. Asefi as saying, “We know the United States tries to show that talks were fruitless in order to prolong the crisis.”


Following his appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Mr. Powell said his diplomats were pressing the IAEA to take Iran’s violations to the Security Council.


“Our information suggests that Iran is moving forward with a nuclear program that could lead to the development of nuclear weapons, and it is for that reason that we have been applying pressure to the international community through the IAEA to refer this matter to the United Nations Security Council.”


He added that this would be a subject of conversations today in Vienna as the IAEA’s board of governors meet.


In 2003, Iran admitted to two hitherto secret enrichment facilities after an opposition group known as the Mujahadin e-Khalq went public the previous year with photographs of one of those facilities in Natanz.


Since then, France, Germany, and Britain have tried to persuade Iran to allow unannounced inspections of its facilities and abandon most of its activities that could be easily converted to atomic warfare.


In July, the Iranians announced their intention to break IAEA seals on some reactors.


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