The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Seoul

International efforts to scrap North Korea's nuclear programmes are at a crossroads due mainly to disagreements over a suspected secret weapons project, South Korea's foreign minister said Thursday. "It is true that we are at a crossroads on the nuclear issue and that's because of the issue of reporting and disablement as well," Song Min-Soon told reporters. "As to the uranium enrichment programme, we need more consultations among the countries concerned." Under a six-nation pact the North should disable its main nuclear plants by December 31 and declare all its nuclear programmes and weaponry. But according to South Korean officials, the North is unwilling to give what the United States considers is a satisfactory explanation of a suspected highly enriched uranium (HEU) weapons programme. Experts have said the US-supervised disablement is going well but may not be completed by year-end for technical reasons related to the removal of fuel rods.