N.Korea may be boosting nuclear arsenal

SEOUL, April 18 (UPI) -- South Korea said Monday it has verified that North Korea has shut down its nuclear power plant and is ready to reprocess spent nuclear fuel.

"We learned of the halt and have confirmed it through various channels," said Kim Sook, the head of the North American affairs bureau at the Foreign Ministry. "We are treating this matter very seriously," he told local KBS radio.

His comment came after a Japanese news report said operations at the 5-megawatt reactor at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex were suspended in April -- a signal that the communist state might be reprocessing extra spent fuel to retract plutonium and boost its nuclear arsenal.

Pyongyang could double its nuclear arsenal if it reprocesses 8,000 spent nuclear rods from the Yongbyon reactor, officials said.

North Korea claimed in 2003 that it had reprocessed spent fuel rods from its 5-megawatt reactor. If North Korea were to reprocess all 8,000 of its spent fuel rods, it could extract enough weapons-grade plutonium for six to eight nuclear warheads, officials said.