US envoy for N.Korea reactor restart serious matter, if true

The U.S. special envoy for North Korea said on Thursday the reported restart of a research reactor at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex would be a serious matter if true.
   
A U.S. research institute and a U.S. official said on Wednesday satellite imagery suggested North Korea had restarted a research reactor capable of producing plutonium for weapons.
   
"These reports, I believe, are unconfirmed. What I can't do is comment on intelligence matters ... If it turns out these reports are true ... it would be a very serious matter ... It would violate a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions," Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies told reporters in Tokyo.

Similarly, the U.N. nuclear watchdog is following reports that North Korea may have restarted a reactor capable of producing plutonium for weapons, but does not yet have a "clear understanding" of the situation there, its chief said on Thursday.
      
"As we don't have inspectors there we don't have anything for sure," Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters in Vienna when asked about the reports.
   
He declined to say whether the IAEA, which follows the North's nuclear programme via satellite images, had seen any steam coming from the site. Asked whether it was a worrying development, he said: "As we don't have a clear understanding (of the situation) we cannot make a comment."

 
REUTERS