North Korea may be preparing to shut down nuclear reactor, reports say

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Intelligence officials reported increased activity Tuesday around North Korea's main nuclear reactor, indicating the country may be preparing to uphold its agreement to shut down the plant. North Korea missed last Saturday's deadline for shuttering the reactor because of a dispute over US$25 million in North Korean deposits frozen in a bank blacklisted by Washington. The funds were allegedly linked to money laundering and counterfeiting.

The owner of the bank in the Chinese territory of Macau, Stanley Au, insisted the money had been unblocked. He noted however that North Korea had made no withdrawals from his Banco Delta Asia "because they cannot transfer the money out."

"There are no banks accepting the so-called black money," Au told The Associated Press. "The only thing they can do at the moment is to take the money in bank notes out of the bank."

North Korea promised the United States and four other countries in February to dismantle its nuclear programs in return for energy aid and political concessions.

North Korea's Yongbyon reactor remained in operation Tuesday, but there was a high possibility that movement of cars and people at the site recorded in satellite photos could be linked to a shutdown, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed intelligence official. The Dong-a Ilbo newspaper carried a similar report.

An official at the National Intelligence Service, South Korea's main spy agency, told The Associated Press they were "following and analyzing some peculiar movements" around the reactor in North Korea, without elaborating. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing policy.

Yonhap news agency cited another unnamed intelligence official as saying that South Korea and the United States have been closely monitoring some movements since a month ago.

"The intensity of these activities has increased from about a week or two ago," the official was quoted as saying. "There are activities other than cars and people moving busily."

But the United States said Tuesday it had received no formal notification that North Korea was taking steps to shut down the reactor, and State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to comment about what U.S. intelligence might be seeing at the nuclear site.

McCormack said the United States was willing to give North Korea "a little bit more time" to act on its pledge to shut down the reactor because of technical issues that delayed the release of North Korean funds frozen at a Macau bank.

"We're being flexible," he said, though he would not say how long U.S. patience would last.

A North Korean decision to shut down the reactor would be its first move toward stopping its nuclear program since 2002, when the latest nuclear standoff began. The North is believed to have produced as many as a dozen atomic bombs since then, and conducted an underground nuclear test in October.

© The Canadian Press, 2007