(4th LD) N. Korea to push ahead with uranium enrichment over U.N. sanctions

(ATTN: ADDS responses by Seoul's foreign ministry at bottom)
SEOUL, June 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea vowed Saturday to go ahead with uranium
enrichment -- a second track to developing a nuclear bomb -- and weaponize all
new plutonium it produces, denouncing a U.N. Security Council resolution that
ratcheted up sanctions on it.
"The process of uranium enrichment will be commenced," the North Korean Foreign
Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The North, which drew condemnations from around the world after its second
nuclear test on May 25, said it has made "enough success" in developing uranium
enrichment technology and is experimenting.
North Korea has long been accused of running a covert uranium enrichment program,
which would provide the communist state with another way to build nuclear arms on
top of reprocessing plutonium.
South Korea believes the North has about 40 kilograms of plutonium, enough to
produce at least six bombs. The North said Saturday it will "weaponize" all new
plutonium it extracts, adding that "more than one third of the spent fuel rods
has been reprocessed to date."
Spent fuel rods are reprocessed to produce the plutonium needed to build nuclear
bombs after undergoing irradiation in a reactor.
Following an earlier U.N. condemnation of its April 5 rocket launch -- which
Pyongyang alone claims put a satellite in space -- North Korea expelled
international monitors from its nuclear reactor facility north of Pyongyang and
vowed to restore operations there.
"It has become an absolutely impossible option for the DPRK to even think about
giving up its nuclear weapons," the North said, blaming the U.S. for its
conclusion.
"This is yet another vile product of the U.S.-led offensive of international
pressure," it said, arguing it "has never chosen but was compelled to go
nuclear."
In response to Resolution 1874, which also calls on U.N. member states to inspect
North Korean vessels suspected of carrying weapons materials, North Korea said it
will consider any outside attempt to impose a blockade on it as an act of war.
"An attempted blockade of any kind by the U.S. and its followers will be regarded
as an act of war and met with a decisive military response," it said.
North Korea conducted its first test in October 2006. In response, the U.N.
Security Council adopted Resolution 1718, imposing an array of sanctions on arms
and luxury trade by the isolated North.
The Seoul government expressed "grave" concerns over the North's statement
declaring that it would go ahead with its nuclear weapons programs.
"The provocative measures and remarks that the North will not give up its nuclear
programs are tantamount to a challenge against the strong will of the
international community to denuclearize the North and to establish peace and
stability in the region," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a
comment posted on its official Web site.
"The government will cooperate with the international community to sternly deal
not just with the North's plutonium but also with its uranium programs," it
added. "Based on the principle that the North should not be allowed to possess
nuclear weapons, we will closely consult with concerned countries and respond to
its threatening and provocative behaviors in a stern and consistent way."
samkim@yna.co.kr
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