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November 22, 2010

North Korea Reveals New Uranium Enrichment Plant
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The top U.S. envoy to North Korea said today revelations that Pyongyang
had made rapid advances in enriching uranium was a provocation, but he
insisted that it was a not crisis. On Saturday,. a U.S. scientist
specializing in nuclear energy revealed that North Korean officials had
given him a tour of a previously undisclosed, uranium enrichment plant.
The highly sophisticated plant had more than a thousand centrifuges. The
scientist, Siegfried Hecker of Stanford University, said the facilities
appear to be designed primarily for civilian nuclear power, but he added
that the plant could be converted to produce highly enriched uranium
bomb fuel. U.S. Envoy Stephen Bosworth spoke in Seoul after meeting
South Korean officials.

Stephen Bosworth: "This is obviously a disappointing announcement. It is
also another in a series of provocative moves by the DPRK. That being
said, this is not a crisis. We’re not surprised by this."



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