N. Korea Said to Be Amassing Nuclear Fuel

A team of international inspectors determined Wednesday that North Korea has begun withdrawing spent fuel rods from a nuclear reactor in defiance of repeated warnings not to do so by the United Nations and the United States, according to U.S. and diplomatic sources.

During its first full day of inspections at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear complex, the three-member U.N. team found unspecified evidence that the fuel withdrawal was under way, and relayed the information to senior officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

Some Western governments and intelligence agencies believe that North Korea used other fuel rods, withdrawn from the reactor in 1989, to make one or two nuclear bombs.

North Korea has denied this, but its refusal to work out an inspection deal has provoked concerns that the country may be attempting to build more weapons.