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The North's official mouthpiece said Tuesday the country has completed reprocessing spent fuel rods and made "noticeable successes" in weaponizing plutonium extracted from them.
The reclusive country "successfully completed the reprocessing of 8,000 spent fuel rods by the end of August as part of the measure taken to restore the nuclear facilities (in Yongbyon) to their original state," the North's Korean Central News Agency said.
"Noticeable successes have been made in turning the extracted plutonium weapons-grade for the purpose of bolstering up the nuclear deterrent in the DPRK (North Korea)," it said. The agency did not elaborate what the "successes" were.
The Yongbyon complex, north of Pyongyang, had been mothballed in exchange for 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil and equivalent energy under a six-nation accord in 2006. In June last year, the North toppled the outdated cooling tower at the complex, which led to its removal from the U.S. list of terrorism-sponsoring nations in October.
In April, however, the North said it had resumed reprocessing the spent fuel rods from the nuclear complex and restored its nearly disabled atomic facility, in protest against a punitive U.N. resolution after its long-range missile launch.
Pyongyang's Tuesday statement said the U.N. sanctions on what it called a peaceful satellite launch were “a grave insult to the dignity of its people.” The North was compelled to bolster "its deterrent for self-defense to cope with the increasing nuclear threat and military provocations of the hostile forces," the statement said.
South Korean nuclear experts said that 8,000 spent fuel rods could yield 7 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium for one atomic bomb. The North is believed to already be in possession of about 40 kilograms of plutonium, which would be enough for six to seven atomic bombs, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry.
Tuesday’s statement came one day after the North warned it would "go its own way" if the United States refuses direct talks with Pyongyang, an indication that it would move further toward nuclear armament.
"As the DPRK was magnanimous enough to clarify the stand that it is possible to hold multilateral talks, including the six-party talks, depending on the talks with the United States, now is the U.S. turn," the North's Foreign Ministry said.
In early October, North Korea said it could return to the stalled six-nation talks on its nuclear weapons drive, on condition that it first has one-on-one talks with Washington and the talks make progress.
The Obama administration has said it could have direct talks with the North but ruled out substantial negotiations on the nuclear issue, stressing that face-to-face contacts would be used as a tool to persuade Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks.
Working-level contacts in New York and San Diego between the two countries last week failed to produce tangible progress on staging high-level direct talks.
The North's announcement on more plutonium production seemed aimed at sending signals that it could make additional atomic bombs if the United States does not accept its call for direct talks on the nuclear issue.
With more plutonium in hand, the North may conduct a third nuclear test – following the first in 2006 and second last May – to miniaturize warheads enough to fit atop its long-range rocket.
Baek Seung-joo, a senior analyst at Seoul's state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said the North is likely to conduct one or two more nuclear tests to achieve global acceptance as a nuclear state.
In a related move, the North has recently completed work on building its largest missile base, capable of launching improved intercontinental ballistic missiles that can carry a nuclear warhead, according to military sources in Seoul.
The Dongchang-ri missile site on the west coast is designed to launch bigger missiles than the Taepodong-2 the North test-fired last April at its other base in Musudan-ri on the northeast coast. The Taepodong-2 rocket flew about 3,200 kilometers, crossing over Japan before crashing into the Pacific Ocean.
The source said a missile launched at the Dongchang-ri base could fly up to 10,000 kilometers, which means it could hit Los Angeles and the west coast of the United States.
The Dongchang-ri base is just 70 kilometers from the Yongbyon nuclear complex, an indication that a new intercontinental ballistic missile could be equipped with a nuclear warhead.
According to Seoul's Unification Ministry, North Korea has an estimated 3,000 workers at 20 sites related to its nuclear weapons programs. Eleven of the facilities are at the Yongbyon nuclear complex and there are also nine uranium-related mines and facilities at Pyongsan, south of the country's capital Pyongyang, and Sunchon, north of the capital, the ministry said in a recent report submitted for parliamentary audit.
But the United States appears to be standing firm against the North’s saber-rattling. U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Kathleen Stephens said on Tuesday Washington is open to one-on-one contact with the North, but only within the six-nation talks aimed at irreversible denuclearization of the communist country
"The U.S. remains willing to engage North Korea bilaterally within the framework of the six-party process," she told a group of South Korean lawmakers. “We do think this (the nuclear issue) is a multilateral issue, not a bilateral issue simply with the U.S., although we are certainly prepared to play our role," she said.
Late last month U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said North Korea could not win what it wants without dropping its nuclear weapons. The United States will never have "normal, sanctions-free relations" with a nuclear-armed North Korea, she said.
