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DPRK to restart nuclear reactor

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-15 07:29

China called for calm Tuesday as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) vowed to restart its nuclear reactor and boycott the Six-Party Talks for good in retaliation for the UN Security Council's condemnation of its rocket launch.

Related readings:  US urges DPRK not to quit talks  Russia calls on DPRK to return to negotiating table  FM: China disapproves of new UN sanction on DPRK  DPRK to withdraw from six-party talks

"We hope the relevant parties proceed from the overall interest, and exercise calm and restraint to safeguard the process of the Six-Party Talks," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a press conference.

"This accords with the common interests of the countries in the region and the international community."

The DPRK's swift denunciation of the council's "hostile" move came hours after all 15 members unanimously agreed to condemn the April 5 launch as a violation of UN resolutions and to tighten sanctions against the country.

The UN statement, issued eight days after the launch, was weaker than the resolution Japan and the United States had pursued but still drew an angry response from Pyongyang, which called it "unjust" and a violation of international law.

The DPRK said it sent a communications satellite into space as part of a peaceful bid to develop its space program; but the US and others call the launch an illicit test of the technology used to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile.

A Security Council resolution passed in 2006, days after the DPRK carried out an underground nuclear test, prohibits Pyongyang from engaging in any ballistic missile-related activity - including launching rockets.

The council on Monday demanded an end to the rocket launches and said it would expand sanctions against the DPRK.

The DPRK, following through on earlier threats to withdraw from international disarmament talks if the council so much as criticized the launch, announced Tuesday it would boycott the five-year-old six-nation talks

"The Six-Party Talks have lost the meaning of their existence, never to recover," the DPRK Foreign Ministry said in a statement, declaring it would not participate in the talks again and is no longer bound to previous agreements.

Since 2003, envoys from six nations - the DPRK, the Republic of Korea (ROK), the US, Russia, Japan and China - have been meeting in Beijing for sporadic negotiations on getting Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program in exchange for aid and other concessions.

Under a 2007 deal, the DPRK agreed to disable its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang - a key step toward dismantlement - in return for 1 million tons of fuel oil and other concessions. Disablement began later that year.

In June 2008, the DPRK blew up the cooling tower at Yongbyon.

But Tuesday, Pyongyang said it would restart nuclear facilities, an apparent reference to the 5-MW plutonium-producing reactor and other facilities at Yongbyon. It also threatened to gird against what it called "hostile acts" by the US and its allies.

"We have no choice but to further strengthen our nuclear deterrent to cope with additional military threats by hostile forces," the DPRK Foreign Ministry said in the statement.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said the DPRK's decision "prompts regret".

US President Barack Obama called the UN Security Council statement a "clear and united message" that Pyongyang's action was unlawful and would result in real consequences, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

AP - Xinhua