Alarm over North Korea move to ‘bolster nuclear arsenal’

NORTH Korea said yesterday that it has completed removing spent fuel rods from an atomic reactor, enabling it to harvest more weapons-grade plutonium. The move comes amid deadlocked talks over its nuclear programme.

A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said the country had successfully finished removing 8,000 fuel rods from the reactor at its Yongbyon complex, which was shut down last month, so it can “bolster its nuclear arsenal”.

North Korea kicked out international nuclear inspectors in late 2002, making it impossible to verify the claim.