North Korea Says It Will Restart Nuclear Arms Plant

North Korea said on Tuesday it was no longer bound by an international nuclear disarmament deal and would restart its plant that makes arms-grade plutonium after the UN chastised it for launching a long-range rocket.

The UN Security Council on Monday unanimously condemned North Korea's long-range rocket launch nearly two weeks ago as contravening a UN ban, and demanded enforcement of existing sanctions against Pyongyang.

The UN measures for a launch widely seen as a disguised test of a long-range missile will have little immediate impact on the North's faltering economy and the divided international response could embolden leader Kim Jong-il, analysts said.

North Korea said the six-country nuclear talks "have become useless," and it "will no longer be bound by any agreement being made at the six-party talks," its KCNA news agency quoted its Foreign Ministry as saying.

"We will actively consider building our own light-water nuclear reactor, will revive nuclear facilities and reprocess used nuclear fuel rods," the ministry said.

North Korea began taking apart its Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear plant more than a year ago as a part of a disarmament-for-aid deal it reached with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

Russia's Foreign Ministry regrets North Korea's decision to restart its nuclear weapons program, state news agency RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday.  The steps in total were aimed at taking a year to reverse but experts said the North could have its plant that separates plutonium from spent fuel rods up running again in as little as three months.

"North Korea's statements are always a mixture of bluff and real threats, but I think the threats are more real this time, and I think they'll continue for the next few months at least," said Shi Yinhong, a regional security expert at Renmin University in Beijing.

China And North Korea

Analysts said China, which shares a border with North Korea and is the closest thing Pyongyang can claim as a major ally, is unlikely to use its crucial position of enforcing UN sanctions in order to avoid destabilizing its destitute neighbor.

Chinese officials had called for restraint for what many saw as a disguised test of a long-range missile but by now joining the condemnation, Beijing has stoked uncertainty about how it intends to balance ties with Pyongyang against pressure from regional powers, which could have long-term implications.

"It means China is paying much more attention to the United States and Japan, and less to North Korea and its relations with North Korea," said Shi.

The new UN measures may cause Beijing to curb trade in a few items but it will keep its flow of energy, grains and other materials that prop up the North's broken down economy.

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Japan urged North Korea to accept the Security Council statement and to resume stalled nuclear talks.

"We will urge North Korea to accept the president's statement issued at the Security Council early this morning," Japanese Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Yasuhisa Kawamura said. "In particular, we support the idea of resuming the six-party talks at an early stage."

The U.S.-authored statement, agreed on Saturday by the five permanent council members and Japan, ordered a U.N. sanctions committee to begin activating financial sanctions and an arms and limited trade embargo laid down in a resolution passed two and a half years ago.

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