Experts: N. Korea May Be Pushing Biden for Nuclear Deal Trump Rejected
Voice of America
WASHINGTON - Experts say North Korea’s reactivation of the reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear facility may be a calculated step by Pyongyang to gain leverage in a renewed effort to gain concessions from the U.S.
North Korea resumed the operation of a nuclear reactor at Yongbyon in early July, according to the annual report released by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday. The reactor, capable of producing plutonium to make nuclear weapons, had been dormant from early December 2018. Former President Donald Trump rejected an offer by regime leader Kim Jong Un to dismantle the Yongbyon site in exchange for sanctions relief when the two met in Hanoi in February 2019. The summit collapsed because Trump wanted Pyongyang to shut down all its nuclear facilities, a move Kim refused to make.FILE - President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia attends a summit in Stansstad near Lucerne, Switzerland, June 15, 2024. FILE - Jubaland President Ahmed Mohamed Islam speaks in Kismayo, Aug. 22, 2019. FILE - Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni speaks in Garowe, Puntland state, northeastern Somalia, Jan. 25, 2024.
FILE - A family rides past a decoration in the shape of the national flags of China and Pakistan installed along a road ahead of a visit by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, in Lahore, Pakistan, July 30, 2023. FILE - Volunteers transport the coffins of Chinese nationals from a hospital following a suicide attack in Besham city in the Shangla district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on March 26, 2024. FILE - Security officials work on the site of an explosion outside Karachi airport, Pakistan, Oct. 7, 2024. The attack, claimed by Pakistani Baloch separatists killed two Chinese nationals.