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             US Spy Chief: N. Korea Has Restarted Plutonium Reactor

   by VOA News

   The U.S. spy chief told Congress Tuesday that North Korea has restarted
   a plutonium reactor that could provide fuel for nuclear weapons.

   Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Pyongyang has been
   operating the reactor long enough that it could capture the plutonium
   from the reactor's spent fuel "within a matter of weeks to months."

   Clapper said North Korea has followed through on its 2013 announcement
   that it planned to restart its nuclear facilities, including the
   uranium enrichment operation at Yongbyon, which had been shut down in
   2007.

   His assessment came two days after North Korea launched a long range
   rocket, drawing more condemnation from the world community.

   U.S. President Barack Obama talked with South Korean President Park
   Geun-hye Monday night about the latest launch. The White House said the
   two leaders agreed that it "represents yet another destabilizing and
   provocative action" that violates several United Nations Security
   Council resolutions that are aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear
   ambitions.

   IS threat

   In his annual assessment of worldwide threats, Clapper also told the
   Senate Armed Services Committee that Islamic militants will continue to
   plot against U.S. targets overseas, but that within the United States
   the biggest threat will be posed by "home-grown violent extremists,"
   such as those carried out in deadly attacks in recent months at an
   armed forces recruiting office in Tennessee and a local government
   center in California.

   He said the attacks inside the U.S. "might motivate others to replicate
   opportunistic attacks with little or no warning, diminishing our
   ability to detect terrorist operational planning and readiness."

   Clapper said that Islamic State "involvement in homeland attack
   activity will probably continue to involve those who draw inspiration
   from the group's highly sophisticated media without direct guidance"
   from the leadership of the terrorist group.

   In its Worldwide Threat Assessment, the U.S. intelligence community
   called Islamic State the "preeminent terrorist threat."

   The report said, "Sunni violent extremism has been on an upward
   trajectory since the late 1970s and has more groups, members, and safe
   havens than at any other point in history. At the same time, Shia
   violent extremists will probably deepen sectarian tensions in response
   to real and perceived threats from Sunni violent extremists and to
   advance Iranian influence."

   The threat assessment said "the acute and enduring nature of
   demographic, economic, political, social, and technological factors (in
   the Middle East) contribute to the motivation of individuals and groups
   and their participation in violent extremist activities. These factors
   ensure that terrorism will remain one of several primary national
   security challenges for the United States in 2016.

   Cyberattacks

   Meanwhile, it said that North Korea "probably remains capable and
   willing to launch disruptive or destructive cyberattacks to support its
   political objectives."

   The U.S. report said that since assuming power four years ago, North
   Korean leader Kim Jong Un "has further solidified his position as the
   unitary leader and final decision authority through purges, executions,
   and leadership shuffles."

   It said that Kim "continues to challenge the international community
   with provocative and threatening behavior in pursuit of his goals, as
   prominently demonstrated in the November 2014 cyberattack on Sony, the
   August 2015 inter-Korean confrontation spurred by the North's placement
   of landmines that injured two South Korean soldiers, and the fourth
   nuclear test" last month.

   [VOA National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this
   report.]
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-spy-chief-north-korea-has-restarted-plutonium-reactor/3183448.html