North Korea has begun reversing its nuclear dismantlement process. "The reprocessing of spent fuel rods from the pilot atomic power plant has begun," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said Saturday. That indicates North Korea is putting threats to "bolster its nuclear deterrent" into action in response to sanctions imposed by the international community following its long-range rocket launch earlier this month.

Seoul interprets the comment as meaning the North has begun repairing its nuclear reprocessing facilities, which had been deactivated, rather than that it has actually started reprocessing spent fuel rods. A South Korean official on Sunday said it is no longer possible to confirm North Korea's comments because IAEA monitors and U.S. experts have been kicked out. The official added the announcement shows North Korea has begun to secure additional fissile materials to strengthen its leverage.

North Korea has 8,000 spent fuel rods and would end up with another 7 to 8 kg of plutonium if it reprocessed all of them. Since it takes 6-7 kg of plutonium to produce one nuclear weapon, North Korea will get its hands of enough fissile material to produce at least one bomb.

In the nuclear inventory it submitted in June last year, North Korea admitted it already extracted 30.9 kg of plutonium and would gain another 7 kg if it reprocessed the remainder.