(MENAFN- QNA) South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Tuesday refuted a claim by a U.S. think tank that North Korea may have shut down its sole plutonium-producing nuclear reactor, saying many believe it is still in operation.
The Institute for Science and International Security claimed in a report published last week that the absence of two key indicators of operations at the 5-megawatt reactor - steam venting from the reactor and the discharge of cooling water - suggests that the communist country could have shut down the reactor for refueling or maintenance purposes.
The report cited commercial satellite imagery dated Aug. 27 and Sept. 29.
Yun refuted that claim.
"Many believe it is still in operation," he was quoted by South Korean News Agency (Yonhap) as saying during a parliamentary audit of the foreign ministry. "On whether the Yongbyon nuclear reactor has been shut down, and on the reasons for the shutdown if it is true, I do not necessarily have the same views as the report."
The reactor at the North's main Yongbyon nuclear complex has been the source of weapons-grade plutonium for the communist nation. The small reactor is capable of producing spent fuel rods which, if reprocessed, could give the regime enough plutonium to make one bomb a year.
Plutonium from the reactor was used in at least two of the three nuclear tests the North has conducted.
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