SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — A newly revealed North Korean nuclear facility could speed up that unpredictable nation’s ability to make and deliver viable nuclear weapons, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.
Gates said he doesn’t think the facility is part of a peaceful nuclear energy program. “I don’t credit that at all,” Gates said in Bolivia, where he is attending a regional defense conference.
The facility appears to be a uranium enrichment facility, Gates said, and it could enable North Korea to build “a number” of nuclear devices beyond the ones it is presumed to have already assembled.
Gates warned that North Korea is also developing new long-range missiles and possibly a new mobile intercontinental ballistic missile.
“All of these programs are of great concern to every nation,” Gates said. He said it is too soon to say how news of the new facility might affect diplomatic strategy.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, pointed to China as a key. He said Beijing is an influential ally of the North and is “well-positioned to enhance the international community’s enforcement activities.”
