Washington's top envoy on North Korea issues, Stephen Bosworth, was heading to Seoul today, a day after a US nuclear scientist said he had been shown a new uranium enrichment facility in the country, adding to fears that the regime's nuclear weapons programme is far more advanced than previously thought.
Bosworth will also visit Beijing and Tokyo to discuss the region's response to Pyongyang's revelations that it has secretly developed the ability to enrich uranium at a laboratory near its main nuclear complex at Yongbyon, about 60 miles north of the capital.
Despite North Korea's claims that the facility is designed to produce electricity, the news will trigger suspicions it is seeking to bolster its weapons capability and gain the upper hand in nuclear talks, as it reels from tough US and UN sanctions.
In revelations certain to embarrass Washington, Siegfried Hecker, a Stanford University professor, said he had been "stunned" earlier this month when shown the uranium enrichment facility. Inside were more than 1,000 centrifuges overseen by an "astonishingly modern control room".
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