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CRS-1 (October 18, 2006)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthaadja0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS21391 Updated October 18, 2006 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web North Korea's Nuclear Weapons: Latest Developments Sharon Squassoni Specialist in National Defense Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division Summary On October 9, 2006, North Korea conducted a nuclear test, with a yield of under 1 kiloton (vice the anticipated 4-kiloton yield). The United States and other countries condemned the test and the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1718 on October 14, which requires North Korea to refrain from nuclear or missile tests, rejoin the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), and dismantle its WMD programs. The test is the latest provocative act of many since 2002, when North Korea ended an eight-year freeze on its plutonium production program, expelled international inspectors and restarted facilities. North Korea may now have enough Pu for eight to ten weapons, having continued its production throughout the fits and starts of the Six-Party Talks. This report will be updated as needed. Background In the early1980s, U.S. satellites tracked a growing indigenous nuclear program in North Korea. A small nuclear reactor at Yongbyon (5MWe), capable of producing about 6kg of plutonium per year, began operating in 1986.1 Later that year, U.S. satellites detected high explosives testing and a new plant to separate plutonium. In addition, construction of two larger reactors (50MWe at Yongbyon and 200MWe at Taechon) added to evidence of a serious clandestine effort. Although North Korea had joined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1985, the safeguards inspections that began only in 1992 raised questions about how much plutonium North Korea had produced covertly. In 1994, North Korea pledged, under the Agreed Framework with the United States, to freeze its plutonium programs and eventually dismantle them in return for several kinds of assistance.2 At that time, Western intelligence agencies estimated that North Korea had 1 5MWe is a power rating for the reactor, indicating that it produces 5 million watts of electricity per day (very small). Reactors are also described in terms of million watts of heat (MW thermal). 2 See CRS Report RL33590, North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program, by Larry Niksch. Congressional Research Service 4- The Library of Congress

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