SEOUL: Nuclear-armed North Korea appears to have restarted its plutonium-producing reprocessing reactor in a "deeply troubling" development, the UN atomic agency has said, a possible sign Pyongyang is expanding its banned weapons programme. The development on the 5-megawatt reactor in Yongbyon -- North Korea's main nuclear complex -- comes with nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington at a standstill. IAEA inspectors were kicked out of North Korea in 2009, and the agency has since monitored it from outside. About 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, Yongbyon is home to the country's first nuclear reactor, and is the only known source of plutonium for North Korea's weapons programme. North Korea suspended nuclear and missile testing during a diplomatic process in 2018 but said it was abandoning its self-declared moratorium in January 2020.

Source: Bangkok Post August 30, 2021 01:30 UTC