South Korea said on Tuesday it suspects the North has been secretly enriching uranium at more locations besides its main nuclear site, which could mean it has more material for building nuclear bombs. South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said he could not confirm a media report that Pyongyang had three to four plants to enrich uranium but he suspected there were facilities in the North in addition to the Yongbyon nuclear complex. "It is a report based on what is still intelligence and let me just say that we have been following this issue for some time," Reuters quoted Kim as telling a press briefing. The prospect of more plants capable of producing materials that could be used in a nuclear weapons program raises the risk that North Korea expands its nuclear plans as it seeks to wrest concessions and aid from restarting disarmament talks. Last month, North Korea shelled an island close to a disputed maritime boundary with the South, killing four people and prompting the United States to send an aircraft carrier to join military drills with South Korea in a show of strength. "Our policies have failed," said Hajime Izumi of Shizuoka Prefectural University in Japan. "The situation has caught fire and we are watching it burn." U.S. nuclear expert Siegfried Hecker, who visited Yongbyon last month, had already raised concerns that the North had alternative sites for uranium enrichment. U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Washington had long been concerned about such secret activity by North Korea. "We're very conscious of the fact that in the recent revelations to American delegations, what they saw did not come out of thin air," he said, referring to Hecker's recent trip. While China has urged South Korea, the United States, Russia and Japan to restart "six-party" talks with the North on nuclear disarmament, South Korea's allies have refused until Pyongyang gives a firm commitment on nuclear disarmament.
