N. Korea Makes More Nuke Moves

North Korea has begun moving fresh fuel rods into a mothballed nuclear reactor at the center of a diplomatic standoff with the United States, raising concerns it was preparing to restart facilities that experts say could produce nuclear weapons within months, a news report said Thursday.

The isolated communist nation began moving fuel rods into the 5-megawatt reactor at its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, 50 miles north of its capital, Pyongyang, the Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified South Korean government official as saying.

The South Korean official did not say whether North Korea has actually begun loading fuel into the Soviet-designed reactor. But the move was apparently intended to ratchet up pressure on the United States.

"We've confirmed through IAEA that North Korea began moving fuel rods into the reactor on Wednesday," the official told Yonhap. "By moving the fuel rods, North Korean officials apparently want to show that their decision to reactivate their nuclear facilities is not empty words."

Earlier this month North Korea announced plans to restart its nuclear facilities, frozen under a 1994 agreement with the United States and its allies. It has removed U.N. monitoring equipment from the reactor and three other key nuclear facilities.

The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency has three inspectors staying in North Korea visually monitoring the activities of North Koreans. The number of inspectors was increased from two to three this week.

"It's unknown how much fuel rods have been moved so far," the South Korea official told Yonhap, adding that the move was expected to continue for a while. "It is not a job that can be finished in a day or two."

The reactor and three other North Korean nuclear facilities were sealed under an agreement that required Pyongyang to freeze its nuclear development in exchange for energy sources provided by the United States and its allies.

North Korea says the dispute can be settled only if Washington agrees to sign a nonaggression treaty. It has sharply increased its anti-U.S. rhetoric in recent weeks, warning that U.S. policy was leading the region to the "brink of nuclear war."

The United States, which is preparing for a possible war against Iraq, is seeking a peaceful settlement to the issue but has ruled out any talks before the communist state gives up its nuclear ambitions.

The three other facilities from which North Korea has removed U.N. monitoring gear include a storage area holding 8,000 spent fuel rods, a radioactive laboratory used to reprocess spent fuel rods and a plant that makes fuel rods.

Yonhap quoted the South Korean official as saying that there were no signs of activities by the North Koreans to reprocess spent fuel rods or restart the laboratory.

U.S. officials say that the 8,000 spent fuel rods hold enough weapons-grade plutonium to make several nuclear bombs. North Korea is suspected of already having at least one atomic bomb.

The standoff has raised fears of another nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula like one in 1994 that some say nearly led to war.