July 21, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 20, 1424

WASHINGTON, July 20: North Korea may be operating a secret nuclear reactor buried in a mountain range, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

Citing US and Asian official sources, the report said the claim is based on the raised levels of Krypton 85 detected by sensors on the border with North Korea. The rare gas is emitted in the plutonium production process.

The distribution of the gases observed from satellite imagery indicate the presence of a second reactor in addition to the one at Yongbyon.

A senior US government official said the evidence was “worrisome, but still not conclusive”, the daily said.—dpa