North Korea escalates nuclear standoff

NORTH KOREA escalated its nuclear standoff with the US yesterday, declaring that it had solved “all the technological matters” involved in using plutonium extracted from its 8,000 spent fuel rods to build atomic bombs.

The communist state said it had completed reprocessing the rods, and had made a “switchover in the use of plutonium” for increasing its “nuclear deterrent force” against what it calls a US plan to invade. “All the technological matters have been solved fully in the process of making a switchover in the use of plutonium,” said the North’s official news agency, KCNA.

It was impossible to independently verify the claim because North Korea has expelled international inspectors from its nuclear facilities.