The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) confirmed Saturday that the country has begun reprocessing of spent fuel rods in a pilot atomic power plant.

"The reprocessing of spent fuel rods from the pilot atomic power plant began as declared in the Foreign Ministry statement dated April 14," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.

The spokesman made the remarks when answering a question raised by the KCNA.

"This will contribute to bolstering the nuclear deterrence for self-defence in every way to cope with the increasing military threats from the hostile forces," the spokesman said.

On April 13, the UN Security Council adopted a presidential statement to "condemn" the April 5 rocket launch by the DPRK, reiterating that the DPRK "must comply fully with its obligations "under Resolution 1718 and demands that the country "not conduct any further launch."

In a strong response to the statement, Pyongyang chose to fight back by withdrawing from the six-party talks and vowed to resume its nuclear program.

(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2009)