NORTH KOREA has resumed construction work on an experimental light water reactor (ELWR) in a move that could expand its capacity to produce material for nuclear weapons, Web site 38North reported Thursday.

    Based on April 30 satellite images, reactor work that halted in December has now resumed, said the Web site — http://38north.org — run by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University and former U.S. State Department official Joel Wit.

    The construction activity comes as Pyongyang has stepped up progress toward conducting a third nuclear test, perhaps using highly enriched uranium for the first time, despite warnings from the United States and China.

    It said the reactor could be operational in one to two years and North Korea had almost completed the reactor containment building, based on the satellite images.

    North Korea says it needs nuclear power to provide electricity, but has also boasted of its nuclear deterrence capacity and has traded nuclear technology with Syria, Libya and likely Myanmar and Pakistan.

    It became the first country to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003 and has denied international inspectors access to its nuclear facilities, reneging on a Feb. 29 deal to do so after it announced plans to launch a long-range rocket.(SD-Agencies)