North Korea Says It Has Restarted Its Main Nuclear Reactor

State media in Pyongyang said the Yongbyon complex is back in operation and that the country is ready to launch nuclear weapons "at any time."

North Korea said it has restarted its main Yongbyon nuclear complex Tuesday, and added that it is ready to respond to "U.S. hostility" with nuclear weapons "at any time."

In a statement attributed to the director of the Atomic Energy Institute, the secretive nation's state-controlled Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that North Korea's "access to nuclear weapons is an outcome of the US hostile policy towards it."

The statement said:

Scientists, technicians and workers in the field of atomic energy of the DPRK [North Korea] have made ​​innovations day by day in their research and production to guarantee the reliability of the nuclear deterrent in every way by steadily improving the levels of nuclear weapons with various missions in quality and quantity as required by the prevailing situation. If the US and other hostile forces persistently seek their reckless hostile policy towards the DPRK and behave mischievously, the DPRK is fully ready to cope with them with nuclear weapons any time.

The statement had been given in direct response to western reports of satellite data showing fresh activity at Yongbyon, the KCNA said.

Yongbyon was shut down in 2007, after North Korea agreed to disarm in exchange for fuel aid. However, Pyongyang said it would restart the plant in 2013.

In April, think tank the Institute For Science and International Security (ISIS) said patterns of melting snow in satellite images taken of the area around Yongbyong showed increased activity at the plant.

Correction

Yongbyon was shut down in 2007, with demolition work taking place in 2008. An earlier version of this article said it was shut down in 2008.

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