(News Focus) Nuclear deal in tatters, Pyongyang's intention still unclear By Lee Chi-dong

SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- A hard-won international accord on ending North Korea's nuclear program has shown clearer signs of unraveling, as the recalcitrant nation has accelerated its move to put a plutonium- producing facility back into operation.

Pyongyang told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it would soon
re-load "nuclear material" into the mothballed plutonium reprocessing plant,
where weapons-grade material would be extracted from spent fuel rods, at its
Yongbyon site. It also eliminated seals and surveillance cameras and expelled
IAEA inspectors from the plant.
The North's move, the latest in a series of steps that have escalated tensions,
deals a serious blow to the already-troubled six-way disarmament talks and the
Bush administration's hopes for a foreign policy feat in its final months. The
Yongbyon facilities had been disabled under last year's deal also signed by the
U.S., South Korea, China, Russia, and Japan.
The communist nation's dialogue partners have expressed concern and
disappointment over the moves, in what is seen as a shift from their previous
"calm response" to threats by Pyongyang, which is notorious for its brinkmanship.
It remains unclear, however, whether the threats to restart the nuclear plant are
mere sabre-rattling.
"We believe that for the North Koreans to do so, it would only deepen its
isolation," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
"The current situation can be regarded as North Korea's brinkmanship strategy to
gain the upper hand in last-minute talks (with the Bush administration)," South
Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told reporters in Washington.
He added, however, that North Korea may also be trying show to the world that it
is in fact implementing the previous announcement threatening to restore the
Yongbyon facilities, including its reprocessing plant.
Experts say that it's too early to conclude that the North truly intends to end
negotiations with the Bush administration, which has offered a rare chance for
Pyongyang to achieve its long-sought goal of being removed from the U.S. list of
state sponsors of terrorism.
In fact, a flurry of North Korea's recent nuclear activities in past weeks came
immediateley following Washington's delay in taking it off the terror list.
In a more positive sign, the North is still allowing a team of three IAEA
inspectors to stay at the five-megawatt reactor, according to foreign media.
There have been no reports on further measures against U.S. monitors at the site.
The North has also yet to haul about 5,000 spent fuel rods out of storage.
"North Korea seems to be escalating tensions in stages to press the U.S.," said
Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean Studies at Seoul's Dongguk University.
"In a sense, the North has delivered its last warning to the Bush
administration."
"North Korea is expected to consider its next steps depending on Washington's
response, as it will require some time to actually restart the nuclear
facilities," he added.
South Korean negotiators have said they will keep a close watch on the North's
follow-up moves, and react accordingly.
"There has been no 'redline' drawn for North Korea to face punitive actions,
including the suspension of energy aid," a delegate to the six-way talks said on
the condition of anonymity.
Rice also insisted that the six-way talks are not dead, signaling Washington's
continued efforts to salvage the crumbling accord.
"We've been through ups and downs in this process," she pointed out.
Diplomatic sources here say China, the North's closet ally in the nuclear
negotiations, may send a high-level special envoy to Pyongyang in efforts to
soothe the crisis.