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General News
11/3/2009 6:43 AM ET
(RTTNews) -
In the latest act of defying international calls to end its nuclear program, North Korea said it had completed reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods to extract plutonium for making nuclear weapons.
Analysts say this quantity is enough to make at least one atomic bomb.
North Korea, which put the world in surprise in April by announcing that it had begun reprocessing the fuel rods, said Tuesday that the work was completed by the end of August at its Yongbyon nuclear facility.
It comes a day after South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that North Korea appears to have completely restarted functioning of the Yongbyon nuclear reactors.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said North Korea "made remarkable achievements in weaponizing the extracted plutonium to strengthen the country's nuclear deterrence."
This is in violation of a deal North Korea signed in 2007 with the U.S., South Korea, China, Russia and Japan, agreeing to dismantle all its nuclear facilities and programs in exchange for diplomatic concessions, energy, and other aid.
Following fresh UN sanctions on North Korea for carrying out its second nuclear test in May, Pyongyang said it would start enriching uranium and use all its plutonium for nuclear weapons.
North Korea withdrew from six-nation nuclear talks in April following Western criticism of its long-range missile tests.
Monday, Pyongyang urged Washington to decide whether it wanted to pursue bilateral talks on its nuclear program, or North would proceed with its choice.
In Tuesday's statement, KCNA said the UN censure of what it called a peaceful attempt to launch a satellite was "a grave insult to the dignity of its people."
North Korea justified its nuclear ambitions by saying that it "was compelled to take measures for bolstering up its deterrent for self-defense to cope with the increasing nuclear threat and military provocations of the hostile forces."
Last month, the United States made it clear that it will neither have normal relations with North Korea nor will relax its sanctions against the Communist country until Pyongyang abandons nuclear arms.
North Korea's continued defiance of international concerns is in contrast to Iran's recent co-operation with the global community on its controversial nuclear program.
As part of the international community's efforts to ensure transparency to Iran's claims that it is enriching nuclear-potent uranium for peaceful purposes, IAEA handed in October a draft proposal advising Iran how to move forward on its uranium enrichment program.
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