Defying UN sanctions, Foreign Ministry admits uranium enrichment programme and says it won't give up nuclear ambitions.
North Korea has vowed to weaponize all its plutonium and threatened military action against the United States and its allies after the UN Security Council approved new sanctions to punish the communist nation for its recent nuclear test.
Its Foreign Ministry also acknowledged for the first time the country's uranium enrichment programme - previously denied - and insisted it will never abandon its nuclear ambitions.
A defiant statement read: "The sanctions are yet another vile product of the U.S-led offensive of international pressure aimed at undermining ... disarming DPRK and suffocating its economy."
It added that it was impossible for North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs, which it called a self-defensive measure against hostile US policy and added any attempted blockade of any kind by the US and its followers will be regarded as an act of war and met with a decisive military response.
North Korea tested its first nuclear device in 2006 and a second one on May 25 in defiance of a UN ban, attracting the latest sanctions aiming to halt the communist nation's weapons exports and financial dealings. They also allow inspections of suspect cargo in ports and on the high seas.
North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium for at least half a dozen atomic bombs. The North also has about 8,000 spent fuel rods which, if reprocessed, could allow the country to harvest 13-18 pounds (6-8 kilograms) of plutonium — enough to make at least one nuclear bomb, experts say.
Source:The times
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