Activity spotted near N. Korean nuclear test site: source

SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Yonhap) -- Increased activity has been spotted near the site where
North Korea set off a nuclear device two years ago, prompting suspicions
Pyongyang could be repairing the facility for a second test blast, an informed
source here said Wednesday.

"We recently witnessed smoke near the nuclear test site in Poongkye-ri, North
Hamkyong Province," the source said, asking not to be identified.
The North is believed to have been incinerating clothes or equipment, but it is
still not clear whether the communist nation has begun repairing the nuclear test
site, the source said.
"The government is still working to analyze recent intelligence to determine
whether the activities near the nuclear test site are linked to the repairing of
the facility," he said.
Others said Pyongyang is believed to have finished repairing the facility soon
after it set off the device in October 2006 in its first-ever nuclear test, and
noted the North could be trying to create a crisis to win concessions in the
stalled multilateral talks over its nuclear program.
North Korea has halted work to disable its key nuclear facility at Yongbyon and
threatened last Wednesday to reactivate the Yongbyon reactor within a week,
accusing the United States of failing to live up to its end of a denuclearization
deal.
The U.S. had said it would remove the North from its list of state sponsors of
terrorism following Pyongyang's issuance of a nuclear declaration, but the
process stalled after the communist state rejected a verification proposal by
the U.S.
The North had been disabling its nuclear facilities under a six-nation accord,
also signed by South Korea, Japan, China and Russia. The deal entitled Pyongyang
to receive 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or equivalent assistance in addition
to other political benefits such as the normalization of ties with Washington and
Tokyo.