
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 22, 1994                   TAG: 9404220177
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: OSAN AIR BASE, KOREA                                 LENGTH: Short

U.S. MISSILES BEING READIED IN SOUTH KOREA

U.S. Patriot missiles arriving in South Korea will be ready for firing within a week, Defense Secretary William Perry said Thursday. He also said North Korea could be ready soon to remove enough plutonium from a reactor to build four or five nuclear bombs.

Perry said ``there is no imminent danger'' of war but it is vital that North Korea permit inspection of its nuclear activities.

In a possible step forward on that front, a spokesman for the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency said North Korea had suggested it would let inspectors monitor the refueling of a nuclear reactor, a move Perry called ``critical.''

At a news conference before flying to Tokyo to meet with Japanese officials, Perry said that ``within weeks it will be necessary'' for North Korea to remove fuel rods from the reactor. The spent fuel would contain enough plutonium to build four or five nuclear bombs, Perry said.

Memo: Longer version ran in the New River edition.

by CNB