The Big Story: North Korea destroying atomic symbol

From The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea—The gray cooling tower stands 60 feet above North Korea’s main nuclear reactor complex, the most visible symbol of its atomic weapons program.

The communist nation’s decision to blow it up Friday in front of diplomats and TV cameras is another dramatic gesture of its commitment to stop making plutonium for atomic weapons.

The demolition at the Yongbyon nuclear complex comes in response to concessions from the U.S., after the North delivered a declaration Thursday of its atomic programs under an agreement at international arms talks with the U.S., China, Russia, South Korea and Japan.

The North has some immediate incentives to stay in Washington’s good graces.

President Bush on Thursday lifted trade sanctions against North Korea and moved to remove it from the U.S. terrorism blacklist, a remarkable turnaround in policy toward the communist regime he once branded as part of an “axis of evil.”

The energy-starved country is also receiving the equivalent of 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil for the initial disarmament steps.

Also, North Korea faces the worst food shortages in years due to severe floods that devastated farmland in 2007. The North’s goodwill could overcome obstacles to delivery of Washington’s promised food aid of 500,000 tons and encourage other nations to join in providing humanitarian assistance to the communist nation, analysts said. The World Food Program says the first shipment of the U.S. food aid is supposed to arrive in Pyongyang this week, although food is not part of the sanctions or nuclear negotiations.

North Korea’s declaration, about 60 pages of documentation, is the result of long-running negotiations the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia have been having with Pyongyang. In the next 45 days — the congressionally mandated waiting period for removing North Korea from the terrorism list — the six parties will agree on how best to verify what the regime has declared. The North Koreans have said they will provide access to their facilities, including the reactor core and waste sites.

“They will make available documents, records, operating manuals and the like,” said National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. “They’ve already made available over 19,000 documents. And that the six parties will have access to personnel involved in their nuclear programs.”

U.S. officials said the declaration contains detailed data on the amount of plutonium North Korea produced during each of several rounds of production at a now-shuttered plutonium reactor. It is expected to total about 37 kilograms of plutonium — enough to make about a half-dozen bombs.

However, the declaration, which covers nuclear production dating back to 1986, does not contain detailed information about North Korea’s suspected program of developing weapons fueled by enriched uranium.

It also does not provide a complete accounting of how it allegedly helped Syria build what senior U.S. intelligence officials say was a secret nuclear reactor meant to make plutonium, which can be used to make high-yield nuclear weapons. Israeli jets bombed the structure in the remote eastern desert of Syria in September 2007.