Tokyo: Japan has regretted North Korea's completion of reprocessing about 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods at its Yongbyon nuclear complex as of the end of August.
"If that is a fact, I cannot help but say that is extremely regrettable because that violates UN Security Council resolutions," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano has said.
While stressing that Tokyo is still analysing the information, the top government spokesman said, "We cannot tolerate North Korea possessing nuclear (capabilities)."
Hirano asked North Korea to return to the six-party talks aimed at denuclearising the country, saying that Tokyo wants Pyongyang to do so as soon as possible.
The nuclear disarmament talks, involving the two Koreas, the US, China, Japan and Russia, have been stalled since last December.
In April, North Korea withdrew from the talks and said it would start reprocessing nuclear spent fuel rods to produce plutonium in protest against UN criticism of its rocket launch earlier that month.
The announcement by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency, which came a day after Pyongyang repeated its call for direct talks with Washington, is seen as a move apparently aimed at drawing the US into such talks to address the nuclear standoff.
In September, Washington announced a plan to seek direct talks with Pyongyang as part of efforts to resume the six-way talks. But the US is still deciding when and where to have the bilateral talks, a US State Department spokesman said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, November 05, 2009, 15:59