N. Korea Says It Produced 30 Kilograms of Plutonium, Japanese Daily Reports

TOKYO, April 21 - North Korea told the United States in December it has produced a total of around 30 kg (66 lbs) of plutonium, about 20 kg less than what the United States estimates, a Japanese newspaper reported on Monday.

The daily Tokyo Shimbun reported that North Korea's chief envoy to the talks, Kim Kye-gwan, told his U.S. counterpart, Christopher Hill in North Korea last December the North had used about 18 kg of its plutonium stockpile for nuclear development and around 6 kg for its first and only underground nuclear test in October 2006.

The newspaper,citing a source involved in the six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear programme for the report, did not elaborate on what the remaining 6 kgs was used for.

The United States, which estimates that communist North Korea has produced more than 50 kg (110 lb) of plutonium, has demanded Pyongyang submit a "complete and correct" declaration of its past and present nuclear activities.

North Korea has said it has accounted for its past and current activities as required. But the United States says that the North has not discussed any transfer of nuclear technology to other countries, notably Syria, nor has it accounted for its suspected pursuit of uranium enrichment.

Uranium enrichment could provide North Korea with a second way to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons in addition to the its plutonum-based programme.

Under the second phase of the six-party deal, once North Korea has produced its nuclear declaration, the United States is expected to relieve it of sanctions under the U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list and Trading With the Enemy Act.

In the third phase, North Korea is expected to dismantle its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and abandon all nuclear weapons in exchange for further economic and diplomatic benefits.

Six-party talks, aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear ambitions, involve the United States, the two Koreas, China, Japan, and Russia, have stalled pending North Korea's full accounting of nuclear activities.

President George W. Bush and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, meeting at Camp David at the weekend, warned that even after North Korea makes a full declaration, the information would still have to be verified.

They appeared to back away from a reported proposal under which, according to sources familiar with the matter, Washington would list its concerns about the nuclear programs which Pyongyang would then acknowledge.

Some U.S. conservatives have criticized that idea as giving in to North Korea and aimed at getting a deal before Bush leaves office in early 2009.

A U.S. team will have talks in Pyongyang on Tuesday and Wednesday on how to verify any declaration North Korea may make about its nuclear programmes, the U.S. State Department said last week.