Seoul: North Korea has produced more plutonium to make nuclear weapons, official media said Tuesday, a day after the communist state threatened to "go its own way"
unless Washington agrees to direct talks.
The country had "successfully completed reprocessing 8,000 spent fuel rods by the end of August" at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, the official Korean Central News Agency
(KCNA) said.
"Noticeable successes have been made in turning the extracted plutonium weapon-grade for the purpose of bolstering up the nuclear deterrent," it said.
The comments indicated the North's growing impatience at Washington's delay in accepting an offer of bilateral talks to end the nuclear standoff.
Yesterday its foreign ministry pressed the United States to agree to such talks, and said these could lead to a resumption of stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament
negotiations.
"If the US is not ready to sit at a negotiating table with the DPRK, it will go its own way," a ministry spokesman added.
Experts believe the 8,000 rods could produce enough plutonium for one or two nuclear bombs, in addition to the North's current stockpile which could perhaps fuel six to
eight weapons.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, November 03, 2009, 16:43