The top U.S. envoy to North Korea said today revelations that Pyongyang had made rapid advances in enriching uranium was a provocation, but he insisted that it was not a crisis. On Saturday,. a U.S. scientist specializing in nuclear energy revealed that North Korean officials had given him a tour of a previously undisclosed uranium enrichment plant. The highly sophisticated plant had more than a thousand centrifuges. The scientist, Siegfried Hecker of Stanford University, said the facilities appear to be designed primarily for civilian nuclear power, but he added that the plant could be converted to produce highly enriched uranium bomb fuel. U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth spoke in Seoul after meeting South Korean officials.

Stephen Bosworth: “This is obviously a disappointing announcement. It is also another in a series of provocative moves by the DPRK. That being said, this is not a crisis. We are not surprised by this.”