As the world focuses on Iraq, North Korea is seeking to expand its nuclear arsenal as quickly as possible - perhaps, as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il sees it, to avoid Saddam Hussein's fate. By summer 2003, barring major technical mishaps, North Korea will be able to extract enough plutonium from spent nuclear fuel for up to half a dozen nuclear weapons, to add to its current suspected stockpile of one or possibly two nuclear weapons. Over the next few years, North Korea could complete facilities capable of producing sufficient plutonium and highly enriched uranium for up to a dozen nuclear weapons annually. As its nuclear weapons arsenal expands, the risk grows that North Korea could afford to consume some material in nuclear tests or even sell it on the black market to raise cash.
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