North Korea halts nuclear reactor, likely to extract bomb fuel

North Korea has reportedly halted the operation of its nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon complex, potentially to extract plutonium for weapons. South Korean and US authorities believe this could be a sign of reprocessing work being done to obtain weapons-grade plutonium. The Yongbyon complex is the main source of plutonium for North Korea’s nuclear weapons. There are concerns that North Korea may conduct another nuclear test as part of its efforts to develop miniaturized nuclear warheads.