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North Korea on Thursday said it intended to continue developing nuclear weapons.
A spokesman at the North Korean Foreign Ministry said that the reprocessing of the 8,000 spent fuel rods at the Yongbyon facility were complete and that plutonium extracted will be used to reinforce Pyongyang's nuclear restraint, the Korean Central News Agency reported.
North Korea has used the term "nuclear restraint" to refer to "development of nuclear weapons." If the North reprocessed 8,000 spent fuel rods, it would be able to extract 25-30 kilograms of plutonium, enough for three to six nuclear weapons.
A South Korean government official said that there was no evidence that the reprocessing was complete and that the matter was still unverified. The official said the statement was more of a threat aimed at gaining a negotiating edge before the second round of the six-nation talks.
The North Korean spokesman said that additional spent fuel rods from the five-megawatt nuclear plant in Yongbyon would immediately be reprocessed, and that it would continue with its nuclear restraint as long as the United States maintains its "hostile policy" against Pyongyang.
North Korea also said that it made no promises to any countries during the six-nation talks in Beijing in August, and that rumors that the next round of talks will be held by October or November were groundless. The spokesman said that it would be naïve to think that North Korea would give up its nuclear restraint when the United States has no intention of giving up its hostile policy.
(Kim In-gu, ginko@chosun.com )
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