North Korea confirms reprocessing of spent fuel rods

New Delhi, Apr 25 (ANI): The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has confirmed on Saturday that the country has begun reprocessing of spent fuel rods in a pilot atomic power plant.

"The reprocessing of spent fuel rods from the pilot atomic power plant began as declared in the Foreign Ministry statement dated April 14," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman, as saying.

The spokesman made these remarks while replying to a question raised by the KCNA.

"This will contribute to bolstering the nuclear deterrence for self-defence in every way to cope with the increasing military threats from the hostile forces," the spokesman said.

On April 13, the UN Security Council adopted a presidential statement to "condemn" the April 5 rocket launch by the DPRK, reiterating that the DPRK "must comply fully with its obligations" under Resolution 1718 and demands that the country "not conduct any further launch.n a strong response to the statement, Pyongyang chose to fight back by withdrawing from the six-party talks and vowed to resume its nuclear program.

Earlier, a confidential report prepared by world's intelligence agencies and defence experts stated that North Korea has become a full-fledged nuclear power with the capacity to wipe out entire cities in Japan and South Korea.

This new reality has emerged in off-hand remarks and in single sentences buried in lengthy reports.

Increasing numbers of authoritative experts from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei to the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates are admitting that North Korea has miniaturised nuclear warheads to the extent that they can be launched on medium-range missiles, according to intelligence briefings. (ANI)