By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
North Korea vowed Tuesday to quit the six-party denuclearization talks and restore its nuclear facilities to strengthen its national defense deterrent.
The response, which observers described as ``unusually strong,'' came hours after the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) adopted a presidential statement to condemn Pyongyang's launching of a long-range rocket on April 5.
The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade welcomed the U.N. statement and reiterated its call for the communist nation not to take additional steps to raise regional tensions.
``The six-party talks in which we are participating have become no longer necessary,'' said a statement issued by North Korea's Foreign Ministry.
The UNSC unanimously adopted the statement Monday, urging Pyongyang to fully comply with its obligations under Resolution 1718, which imposed financial sanctions and an arms embargo in the aftermath of the North's nuclear test in 2006.
The North also said it will reprocess spent fuel rods as part of efforts to restart the production of weapons-grade plutonium.
``We will take steps to restore disabled nuclear facilities… and reprocess used fuel rods that came from experimental nuclear reactors,'' it said.
The communist state had been disabling nuclear facilities at Yeongbyeon as part of a six-nation deal made in February 2007.
A government official said on condition of anonymity that the U.N. sanctions could be lifted if the North rejoins the six-party talks, because the statement is aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, rather than punishing the North.
Seoul, Washington and Tokyo plan to submit to the council a list of about 10 North Korean companies which are believed to be involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), reports said.
``South Korea, the United States and Japan consulted the list of the firms to be sanctioned and decided to submit it to the U.N. Sanctions Committee soon,'' the Yonhap News Agency reported.
He did not elaborate but rumors suggest that the affected firms will include the Korea Mining and Development Corporation, Moksong Trading Corporation and Sino-ki, which are already under U.S. sanctions for their contribution to WMD proliferation.
Under the U.N. statement, the committee has to confirm the list by April 24.