SEOUL (Agencies)
North Korea warned of a military stike in response to South Korea's decision to join a join U.S.-led security pact, calling it a "declaration of war" and declaring the country is was no longer bound by its 1953 armistice.
North Korea faces international sanctions for its nuclear test erlier this week and vehmenetly rejected its southern neighbor's decision to join the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) in the wake of the tests.
"Our military will no longer be bound by the armistice accord as the current U.S. leadership... has drawn the puppets (South Korea) into the PSI," a North Korean army spokesman said.
" There are various indications that reprocessing facilities in Yongbyon resumed operation (and) have been detected by U.S. surveillance satellite, and these including steam coming out of the facility " South Korean daily of Chosun Ilbo "Any hostile act against our peaceful vessels including search and seizure will be considered an unpardonable infringement on our sovereignty and we will immediately respond with a powerful military strike," the spokesman for the North's army was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.
The threat comes after South Korean media reported earlier that Pyongyang had restarted a plant that makes weapons-grade plutonium.
"There are various indications that reprocessing facilities in Yongbyon resumed operation (and) have been detected by U.S. surveillance satellite, and these including steam coming out of the facility," South Korea's largest newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, quoted an unnamed government source as saying.
The Soviet-era Yongbyon plant was being taken apart under a six-country disarmament-for-aid deal and there were no signs yet that the North, which conducted its only prior nuclear test in October 2006, was again separating plutonium. |
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Firing more missiles amid UN condemnation " Our military will no longer be bound by the armistice accord as the current U.S. leadership... has drawn the puppets (South Korea) into the PSI " North Korean Army Pyongyang also appeared to have fired a third short-range missile late on Tuesday after it added to tensions with a launch of two others earlier in the day, the South's Yonhap news agency quoted a unnamed government source as saying.
U.S. President Barack Obama is working to form a united response to Monday's nuclear test, widely denounced as a major threat to stability that violates United Nations resolutions and brings the reclusive North closer to having a reliable nuclear bomb.
The U.N. Security Council has unanimously condemned the North but diplomats said Tuesday that members need some time to agree on a new resolution sanctioning it.
Japan's upper house of parliament denounced the test and said in a resolution the government should step up its sanctions. |
A missile unit of the North Korean Army marching during a grand military parade in Pyongyang (File) Analysts say Pyongyang, which has a history of using military threats to squeeze concessions out of global powers, may have ramped up its provocations early in Obama's presidency in order to have more cards to play during his time in office.
North Korea's meagre supply of fissile material is likely down to enough for five to seven bombs after Monday's test, experts said. It could probably extract enough plutonium from spent rods at the plant for another bomb's worth of plutonium by the end of this year.
The North's next step may to be resume operations at all of Yongbyon, with experts saying it could take the North up to a year to reverse disablement steps. Once running, it can produce enough plutonium for a bomb a year.
The test raised concern about Pyongyang spreading its weapons to other countries and groups. The United States has accused it of trying try to sell nuclear know-how to Syria and others.
The hermit state has also threatened to launch a long-range ballistic missile if the Security Council does not apologize for tightening sanctions to punish it for an April launch widely seen as a missile test that violated U.N. measures. |
