This file photo shows a cooling tower (R) and the site after it was demolished (L) at a North Korean nuclear plant as a show of openness toward denuclearization in Pyongyang in 2008.
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Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:11:52 GMT
North Korea says it will boycott six-party talks on ending its nuclear program in protest at UN criticism of its recent rocket launch.
Pyongyang said Tuesday that talks over its nuclear program were "useless" and that it had therefore decided to restart nuclear facilities it had begun to take apart under an international agreement.
North Korea began more than a year ago dismantling its Yongbyon nuclear plant under a disarmament-for-aid deal. The plant had made weapons-grade plutonium.
The talks that Pyongyang has vowed to shun involve China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States and began in 2003 to denuclearize the North.
"There is no need for the six-party talks any more. We will never again take part in such talks and will not be bound by any agreement reached at the talks," reads a statement by the North Korean foreign ministry.
The comments came after the UN Security Council unanimously condemned North Korea's long-range rocket launch as being in breach of a UN ban.
"We will actively consider building our own light-water nuclear reactor, we will revive nuclear facilities and reprocess used nuclear fuel rods," adds the North Korean statement.
The West says North Korea's recent rocket launch may have been a test for a long-range missile, a claim denied by Pyongyang.
Pyongyang said Tuesday that talks over its nuclear program were "useless" and that it had therefore decided to restart nuclear facilities it had begun to take apart under an international agreement.
North Korea began more than a year ago dismantling its Yongbyon nuclear plant under a disarmament-for-aid deal. The plant had made weapons-grade plutonium.
The talks that Pyongyang has vowed to shun involve China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States and began in 2003 to denuclearize the North.
"There is no need for the six-party talks any more. We will never again take part in such talks and will not be bound by any agreement reached at the talks," reads a statement by the North Korean foreign ministry.
The comments came after the UN Security Council unanimously condemned North Korea's long-range rocket launch as being in breach of a UN ban.
"We will actively consider building our own light-water nuclear reactor, we will revive nuclear facilities and reprocess used nuclear fuel rods," adds the North Korean statement.
The West says North Korea's recent rocket launch may have been a test for a long-range missile, a claim denied by Pyongyang.
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