North Korea says it has resumed reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods to extract plutonium, further raising the diplomatic stakes after it launched a long-range rocket over Japan earlier this month.
The announcement comes as a sharp rebuff to China and Russia, the closest countries North Korea has to allies, which have been urging Pyongyang to resume six-party talks aimed at getting the communist state to dismantle its nuclear bomb programme.
Pyongyang's latest move, which cannot be verified because it has expelled international atomic inspectors, is also a gesture of defiance against the UN Security Council, which has implemented sanctions over the April 5 rocket launch, blacklisting three North Korean companies.
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