N. Korea Restarts Nuclear Facilities

Bolting at the United Nations’ decision to punish it for a contentious rocket launch, North Korea said Saturday it has started reprocessing spent fuel rods in its nuclear facility near Pyongyang that could lead to producing weapons-grade plutonium. The statement by the North’s foreign ministry came hours after the United Nations froze foreign assets of two firms and a bank in North Korea over their suspected ties to the April 5 rocket launch, Yonhap News reported. "The reprocessing of spent fuel rods from the pilot atomic power plant began as declared in the Foreign Ministry statement dated April 14," a spokesman for the ministry said in an interview with the official Korean Central News Agency. North Korea warned on April 14 that it was withdrawing from nuclear disarmament talks and would restore its major nuclear facility in Yongbyon in protest of the U.N. Security Council condemnation of its rocket launch. The unidentified spokesman for the North's foreign ministry said the reprocessing of spent fuel rods "will contribute to bolstering the nuclear deterrence for self-defense in every way to cope with the increasing military threats from the hostile forces." North Korea’s major ideological ally, China, also reported the North’s announcement as major news of the day. “North Korea said it resolutely opposes the U.N. sanction,” its state-controlled radio reported. North Korea insists the launch was to put the Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite into orbit, while outside monitors say no such object has entered space.