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North Korea wants world to run atomic plant, says Richardson

SEOUL: North Korea’s eagerness to make progress at nuclear talks appears genuine enough to involve a specific proposal to ensure its pursuit of a civilian nuclear plan is proliferation-safe, key US figures said on Saturday. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson also said senior North Korean officials told his delegation in Pyongyang that it would return to the six-party talks in the latter part of the first week of November as promised. “They stated they would be prepared to have the US or any of the six party talk countries participate in the fuel cycle on the front or back end,” Richardson told reporters at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club. “The North Koreans showed flexibility on the issue of the lightwater reactor,” he said. The fuel cycle refers to the handling of a range of nuclear materials not only for power plants but also atomic weapons. North Korea has secretly processed such fuels for decades and is believed to have built weapons, in violation of several international agreements and nonproliferation regimes. reuters

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