S. Korea regrets over DPRK's reprocessing of spent nuclear rods

South Korea on Tuesday expressed its deep regret over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s earlier announcement on its completion of spent nuclear rods.

The South Korean government deeply regretted the DPRK's activities which violated the U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874, and defied the international community's concerted demand, the South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Moon Tae-yong said in a press release.

Moon said Seoul will closely cooperate with other related countries in efforts to persuade Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks at an early date and fulfill its obligations on denuclearization, and will keep a close eye to Pyongyang's activities.

Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported earlier in the day that the work of reprocessing of all the 8,000 spent nuclear rods, a key step to increase its nuclear arsenal, had been completed by the end of August in Yongbyon.

The DPRK shut down Yongbyon nuclear facilities in 2007 under a six-nation nuclear disarmament deal. In April, it quit the six-party talks and announced it was resuming the reprocessing of plutonium from spent fuel rods at the reactor there. Pyongyang has expressed willingness to return to the six-party talks but only if it first holds direct talks with Washington.

Source: Xinhua