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Diplomat Consultations Underway About Reported North Korean Uranium
Enrichment

   Steve Herman | Seoul 21 November 2010

Photo: AP

   U.S.  nuclear  envoy  Stephen  Bosworth,  back,  and  his South Korean
   counterpart  Wi  Sung-lac  arrive  for  their  meeting in Seoul, South
   Korea, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010.

   An  eight-person  team  of  U.S.  diplomats, intelligence officers and
   other  officials  has rushed to Asia for consultations following North
   Korea's  claim  to  have secretly constructed a new uranium enrichment
   facility.   On  Monday  morning  in  Seoul, the envoys met with South
   Korea's  foreign  minister,  other  diplomats  and  national  security
   officials. Â
   After  his  meeting  at  the  South  Korean foreign ministry, the U.S.
   special  envoy  for  North Korea, Stephen Bosworth said "this is not a
   crisis."
   But  he  added  that Pyongyang's new uranium enrichment program is its
   most  provocative  act in two decades. "This is clearly a violation of
   U.N.  Security  Council  Resolution 1874.  It is a violation of North
   Korea's  commitments  under  the September 2005 joint statement.  And
   it's  a  violation of other commitments they have made to us and other
   partners in the six-party process," he said.
   American scientists, who visited North Korea this month, say they were
   shown  more  than  1,000  recently  built  centrifuges  for processing
   uranium.
   The  U.S.  team  is  scheduled  to  meet during the next few days with
   Japanese and Chinese officials as the international community grapples
   with how to respond to the North Korean developments.

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