Nuclear complex in North spied by US

THE UNITED States believes North Korea is building a huge new nuclear complex. Satellite photos showed workers creating a vast underground site near Yongbyon, site of a nuclear plant that North Korea shut four years ago in exchange for a package of Western aid.

South Korea and Washington have tried to reduce tension on the Korean peninsula, with the new South Korean President, Kim Young Sam, spearheading a policy of detente.

But in the past few months there have been numerous signs that Pyongyang is edging back towards confrontation.

The North has accused the US of reneging on promises of fuel shipments. A small North Korean submarine carrying nine commandos was found off the South Korean coast earlier this year.

The New York Times reported that other intelligence led the US to tell congressmen and South Korea that it believes the North intends to build a reactor and reprocessing plant under a mountain. It could take two to six years to become operational.

Pyongyang was alleged to have developed up to six nuclear weapons before it agreed to cease their development four years ago. The US has deployed its own nuclear weapons in South Korea for many years, and on a number of occasions has come close to using them.

The new complex raises fears that confrontation is again on the cards. "It's a very, very serious development," a US official told the Times, "to say nothing of incredibly stupid, because it endangers both the nuclear accord and humanitarian aid."

Because the reactor and reprocessing plant are not yet built, North Korea is not in breach of the 1994 agreement, which was struck with Kim Il Sung, the secretive nation's leader, who died a few weeks later. It is possible his son and successor, Kim Jong Il, may be rethinking the policy of accommodation with the West.

The US special envoy for Korea, Charles Kartman, is expected to ask North Korea about the underground complex at his meeting with North Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister, Kim Gye Kwan, on Friday in New York.