By Reuben Staines
Staff Reporter
South Korea yesterday played down claims by a senior North Korean official that Pyongyang has reprocessed and ``weaponized’’ 8,000 spent plutonium fuel rods as a deterrent against U.S. hostility.

Responding to the comments made by Pyongyang’s Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su-hon following a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, a top Seoul official said his government sees little new in North Korea’s revelation.

The official said Choe stopped short of claiming the North has nuclear weapons, stating only that it has ``weaponized’’ the plutonium _ perhaps indicating reprocessing for weapons use.

``North Korea seems to want to keep a strategic ambiguity (in describing its nuclear weapons programs) while trying to secure a better bargaining position in negotiations,’’ the Seoul foreign ministry official told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity.

He insisted the North Korean diplomat’s comments should not damage six-party talks aimed at convincing Pyongyang to give up its nuclear ambitions in return for a compensation package. ``My government is going to continue to exert its utmost diplomatic efforts to convene talks sooner rather than later.’’

Another government official in Seoul expressed doubt over whether, given the timeframe, North Korea could have completed reprocessing the fuel rods, leftovers from its Yongbyon nuclear reactor.

Signs of reprocessing activities in the North have not been detected since early last year, just after it kicked out international nuclear inspectors, he said.

U.S. and South Korean experts estimate about eight nuclear warheads could be produced from 8,000 spent fuel rods. Some believe Pyongyang may have already had two nuclear weapons before beginning the reprocessing.

North Korea’s envoy created a stir on the sidelines of the annual ministerial meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York, as many interpreted his remarks as confirming suspicions that Pyongyang has manufactured nuclear arms with the fuel rods.

``We have made clear that we have already reprocessed 8,000 wasted fuel rods and transformed them into arms,’’ Choe told reporters. When asked to clarify whether the plutonium had been turned into actual weapons, however, he said only that the reprocessed material had been ``weaponized.’’

During his speech, Choe strongly criticized the U.S. and said the likelihood of war on the Korean peninsula is ``snowballing’’ due to Washington’s ``hostile policy’’ towards Pyongyang.

He also rapped Seoul over recently disclosed experiments involving nuclear materials that were conducted by South Korean scientists during the early 1980s and in 2000.

Six-party negotiations to resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff have stalled in recent months. Participating nations agreed in June to reconvene for a fourth round of discussions before the end of September but the North now says it sees no point in further talks.

International experts suspect Pyongyang is buying time until after the U.S. presidential election in November, hoping that Democratic candidate John Kerry will prevail and take a more flexible approach toward the nuclear crisis.

rjs@koreatimes.co.kr