President Jim Jong-un should remember what happened to President Saddam Hussein (of Iraq) and President Marmur Gaddaffi (of Libya) before deciding to abandon his nuclear assets. From historical precedence, if America hates the Head of a Foreign State which has nuclear weapons, the regime changes becomes a TWO-STEP JOB: Step 1: force the state to give up nuclear weapons; Step 2: kill the leader and DESTROY the state. If the state does not have nuclear weapons for America Regime Change is a ONE STEP JOB: send the marines, kill the leader or bring him in shackels to America and destroy his life. Mr Kim Jong-un, the choice is yours.

Oh, look at the “concern” that Trump could find a peace with North Korea. I know I’m just so “worried” about peace breaking out. Meanwhile, there’s the more dangerous John Bolton.

To Authors, Just curious! by looking at the last image, would it be possible to discharge hot water upstream and collect cold water at 200m downstream? Assuming the river flows from north to south (refer to google map).

The idea that North Korea will meet with the president and they will voluntarily denuclearize is a fiction. The only thing keeping Un in power is his nuclear program, and dictators keep power not give it up. The president has no clue as to the history of the North and its proliferation of nuclear materials. He has never negotiated with a sociopath who’s only agenda is to stay in power. If they meet we get nothing of substance, the North gets recognition and will keep its nuclear program. Political shows don’t bring peace hard work and negotiations are what garner results.

The comparisons of North Korea to Syria and Irag are simple minded at best and I don't believe even Bolton thinks it's that simple. The Korean peninsula has always been a knot too tangled to untie. While I think that criticism of previous administrations approach's is justified, provoking a devastating war that will deeply harm the region is not an option. I know that Bolton doesn't care about collateral damages (dead people and damaged society's like his and Bush's Irag adventure) but that doesn't make them any less acceptable. It's telling that as sanctions are having the desired affect we now have Trump & South Korea being played by Kim. Kind of like how Putin's been playing Trump since before the election. Trump thinks he's the great negotiator / business man but is out of his depth with mostly fools & charlatans left to counsel him. Sad

Oh, look at the “concern” that Trump could find a peace with North Korea. I know I’m just so “worried” about peace breaking out. Meanwhile, there’s the more dangerous John Bolton. And yes, at least in and editorial, the NYT has acknowledged the grave danger of that Trump appointment.

I wonder when we'll be getting Bolton's explanation of just what happens when you seriously bomb two operating nuclear reactors, especially if one of them is dedicated to producing large quantities of plutonium? Equally, I'm looking forward to hearing the detailed explanation of just why anybody in their right mind would think that the loons running the DPRK would simply sigh and say, "Oh, well, oopsies, that's the way it goes," after such an attack? North Korea may be the most militarized country on the planet. It's run by a tiny cadre of lunatics who cannot afford to sit back and do nothing after a strike. And currently, our policy seems to be to undermine SOUTH Korea and Japan, blow off the trade deals designed to corral China, blat about regime change, and dump a precious nuclear deal with Iran because it's actually working. I've no idea how to address this construction of a new reactor, but Trump and Bolton ain't it.

World Bully and self-appointed "leader" demands that some countries (DPRK) must de-nuclearize while other countries (Israel) do not while it has active multi-billion dollar nuclear "modernization" program of its own. Liberals and media work to undermine chance for talks, ignore the DPRK need for nuclear deterrence, exaggerate North Korean "threat" and encourage US aggression. Really sad and disgusting.

Satellite images show that a new nuclear reactor in North Korea seems ready to go online. Although there is “evidence” – power lines and a transmission tower – that it would be used for civilian purposes, there is still the apprehension that it could be used for making “more fuel for nuclear weapons.” During Kim Jong-un’s visit to Beijing on Monday, he is said to have told his host, Xi Jinping, that “it is our consistent stand to be committed to denuclearisation.” Xi has expressed China’s goal of making the Krean Peninsula nuclear free. It remains to be seen, whether Kim, means serious, or he may just be – like his father in the past – paying lip service to his pledge. Next to Xi, Kim seemed confident that his country would feel sufficiently secure without nuclear arms. Now he needs the assurance from Trump.

I have no doubt that North Korea is a great danger to world peace, but China is the bigger threat, and where our corps of statesmen should be looking to solve the issues at hand. We must work through them to solve our issues with North Korea. I hope Trump and his new Secretary of State is up to the task. I doubt it.

C'mon folks. Does anyone think for one second Trump will actually meet with the North Koreans? His overture to do so weeks ago, was a 'knee-jerk' reaction like so many others we have seen over the past year. With the addition of his new-hire war-monger John Bolton this meeting has as much of a chance as Trump releasing his tax returns.

Why is the Trump administration taking credit for pressuring talks between Kim and Xi toward "denuclearization," when obviously, there is a more complex agenda in play in the region. Is the Trump White House really that blind? Is Kim really out-maneuvering Trump again? Can we get an adult in charge of this, before things get out of hand?

Kim dong W. Un , the boy dictator, is clearly engaging in Trump-like negotiating tactics. Stake out an extreme position and, during negotiating, back off.

Trust the little dictator at your peril. Clinton trusted his father, and he was taken to the cleaners. Obama appeased Kim by simply ignoring North Korea's ballistic missile tests and their on going nuclear development. When Kim has nukes he will sell them to his favorite terrorist state Iran. Then all hell will break loose. Face him down now, or regret it later.

What do you suppose Kim Jong-un will do if his reactor breaks. Personally help? Fly as far away as possible and tweet ordered threats?

It will never cease to amaze me that the United States continues to play nuclear police despite remaining the only country to ever use a nuclear weapon on other people.

It's interesting the way we apply different yardsticks to our concerns about the North Korean and Iranian nuclear power/weapons programs. For the Iranians, reactors were ignored and it was all about the numbers of their calutrons for enriching uranium when, in fact, enriched uranium is useful only for running a light-water nuclear reactor. Why would you use uranium for a bomb when you have the much more practical plutonium?. Plutonium is created in the fires of virtually all power reactors that produce electricity, and it is readily purified by simple chemistry rather than the much more expensive mass spectrometry that underlies calutrons. Iran has had nuclear reactors for some time now, and could easily create enough plutonium for a bomb, and given that you can simply go on Google to get the specifications for the lensing system required to fabricate a bomb trigger, they could easily come up with one in very short notice. If President Trump reneges on the Iranian deal, he will with justification be known as the Father of the Iranian atomic bomb.

This is exactly the sort of thing we should expect to see from North Korea ahead of serious negotiations with the U.S. The last time such negotiations occurred (in the 1990's), North Korea successfully used the Yongbyon complex as a bargaining chip to obtain monetary and other concessions. So they may be deliberately ramping up their activity at the Yongbyon reactor to improve their bargaining position ahead of the talks. On the one hand, this may be an indicator that the North is very serious about proceeding into talks. On the other, it may be an indicator that they intend to enter those talks with an opening offer that will be a non-starter for the U.S. We've already been down the road of paying off the Kim regime to suspend their activities at Yongbyon, and we know where that leads. It isn't going to work this time around.

I'm having trouble with the smoke stack. It's not big enough to indicate a fossil fuel burning power plants except perhaps diesel generators to operate the nuclear plant, but where is the fuel storage tank? I know the plant uses river water for cooling as indicated but that stack keeps me wondering.

OK, let's assume the premise of this article is correct, that once committed to negotiating the parties should refrain from actions that could _potentially_ build military capability. Fair enough, what it says about North Korea should raise some questions. Then why isn't the US held to the same standard? There has been no indication from the White House that it intends to place on hold its trillion dollar+ nuclear weapons "modernization" plans to build thousands of new nuclear weapons and, incidentally, totally rebuild and replace the US nuclear weapons industrial complex. Rather like what this article describes is going on at Yongbyon, but a thousand times greater. Has the US begun to withdraw its forces from the peninsula? Has it kept the 7th Fleet from sailing around, showing force? Or even ended its maneuvers? Or taken any step other than agree to negotiations? Nope. Then why advance the premise that North Korea continuing to build its nuclear infrastructure in the absence of a conclusive agreement between the parties should somehow torpedo the chance of having that discussion? I generally expect better from the NY Times, not perfect, but why beat the drum for Trump having a (very weak) excuse to walk away from talks? Why expect the North to preemptively start closing down its program when the talks haven't even started? You're putting the cart ahead of the horse and contributing to tension by uncritically portraying this as a deal-breaker. It is no such thing.

This is a surreal reminder of the buildup to "WMD" and our last war of choice. Expect our first preemptive strike the minute Mueller announces Trump's indictments.

I see from the dated photographs that the complex was built during the Obama administration.