By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
North Korea has removed about 6,100 of its 8,000 spent fuel rods from the Yongbyon plutonium-processing reactor in an effort to meet disarmament obligations it promised under a 2007 denuclearization-for-aid deal, the U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS) reported, Saturday.
However, the North has apparently slowed down the removal process amid a stalemate over the six-party talks aimed at dismantling the communist state's nuclear weapons program, the report said.
The report also said it would take about three to four months for the North to reprocess the extracted fuel rods in a bid to reverse its denuclearization pledge.
The multinational talks, involving the United States, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia, have not been held for about three months, as North Korea has rejected a proposal by the United States and other participating nations to establish a protocol on ways to verify the North's nuclear materials and activities.
Discharging spent fuel rods is part of the agreed upon 11 steps to disable the Yongbyon reactor under the 2007 deal in which the communist state would receive energy assistance from the other five nations.
Earlier this year, South Korean officials visited Pyongyang to discuss Seoul's potential purchase of North Korea's unused fuel rods, but failed to reach a compromise.
The North is believed to have about 14,000 unused fuel rods that can be used in making 100 tons of uranium, which would cost around $11 million, experts say.