N. Korea repairing nuke reactor

North Korea has recently been increasing activities near a nuclear test site on the northeastern tip of the communist state in an apparent move to repair the site, a South Korean military source said yesterday.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they may be in line with the North`s recent move to renege on a six-nation disarmament deal.

"Recently, we have spotted smoke at several places near the nuclear test site in Punggyeri, North Hamgyeong Province. We are closely paying attention to the moves to find out whether the North is intending to restore the site," the source said.

The site is where the communist regime detonated its nuclear device on Oct. 9, 2006.

Intelligence authorities suspect the smoke comes from burning of clothes and equipment used for the restoration work, according to the source.

Experts here said the North`s move is seen to stem from an attempt to increase tension with regard to the current stalemate in the nuclear negotiation.

The chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill yesterday headed for North Korea in an effort to salvage the unraveling multinational negotiations.

Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, went to Pyongyang by land via the inter-Korean border of Panmunjeom, officials here said.

During his visit there, Hill is expected to meet his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-kwan to discuss a formula for verifying the North`s nuclear declaration. He is expected to return to Seoul today.

"I assume he will have a meeting with Kim Kye-kwan. He obviously wants to go and get a feel for the situation on the ground, talk to North Korean officials as to why they`ve taken these," U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said at a daily press briefing.

"Our hope is that they will submit to the Six-Party members the verification regime that we`ve asked for. We want to get that verification regime, so that we can move forward on the delisting," Wood said. "Chris wants to try to find a way to get this process back on track, move it forward."

Wood said Hill would bring "some ideas on how to move this process forward" to the North. This is the third time he has visited the North.

Washington and Pyongyang are at odds over a verification protocol for a declaration the communist regime made about its own nuclear programs in June. Washington has delayed its decision to remove the regime from its list of states sponsoring terrorism, demanding the North cooperate for the verification.

Pyongyang has objected and begun reversing the disablement of its nuclear facilities in defiance of U.S. pressure.

The North agreed in 2007 to dismantle the Yongbyon facilities in exchange for economic and energy assistance, as well as removal from the terrorism blacklist.

A South Korean diplomatic official said yesterday Hill may propose a softened plan for the disputed verification protocol to break the current impasse.

"Assistant Secretary Hill carries a proposal which has a softened mandate, but accords with its verification principle including a sampling examination and a free access to undeclared facilities. But, we don`t know how North Korea will react to it," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Hill will present the North Koreans with a face-saving proposal that would have North Korea agree to a verification program, the Associated Press reported yesterday, citing an unidentified senior U.S. official in Washington.

Under the proposal, Pyongyang would agree to a verification program and submit it first to China, it reported. The United States would then provisionally remove the North from the terrorism blacklist, it said.

After his visit to North Korea, Hill plans to travel to China on Oct. 3 and Japan on Oct. 4 to report on his meetings, the State Department said. He will return to Washington on Oct. 4, it said.

Last week, Pyongyang expelled International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors from the reprocessing plant in Yongbyon, and removed seals, monitors and cameras from the facilities which the North had dismantled under the 2007 denuclearization-for-aid deal. The U.N. agency has been monitoring the disabling process of the North`s Soviet-era atomic facilities.

North Korea also informed IAEA officials that it will reintroduce atomic materials into the shut-down reprocessing plant in a week.

By Jin Dae-woong

(davidpooh@heraldm.com)