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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| N Korea 'in final uranium phase' | N Korea 'in final uranium phase' |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| North Korea has entered the final phase of uranium enrichment, the North's state media are reported as saying by South Korea's Yonhap news agency. | North Korea has entered the final phase of uranium enrichment, the North's state media are reported as saying by South Korea's Yonhap news agency. |
| "Uranium enrichment tests have been successfully carried out and that process is in the concluding stage," state media were quoted as saying. | "Uranium enrichment tests have been successfully carried out and that process is in the concluding stage," state media were quoted as saying. |
| If confirmed, the move would be in defiance of international pressure for the North to abandon its nuclear work. | If confirmed, the move would be in defiance of international pressure for the North to abandon its nuclear work. |
| The UN passed tougher sanctions after a nuclear test by Pyongyang in May. | The UN passed tougher sanctions after a nuclear test by Pyongyang in May. |
| Both that test and an earlier nuclear test by North Korea in 2006 were understood to have been plutonium-based warheads. | |
| Defiance | |
| The North's KCNA news agency reported that North Korea's delegation at the United Nations had written to the Security Council, saying Pyongyang was now ready "for both sanctions and dialogue". | |
| "Reprocessing of spent fuel rods is at its final phase and extracted plutonium is being weaponised," the AFP news agency reported the delegation as saying. | |
| "If some permanent members of the UN Security Council wish to put sanctions first before dialogue, we would respond with bolstering our nuclear deterrence first before we meet them in a dialogue," the delegation said. | |
| South Korea's defence minister had warned in June that the North was going ahead with plans to enrich uranium, a step towards making nuclear weapons. | South Korea's defence minister had warned in June that the North was going ahead with plans to enrich uranium, a step towards making nuclear weapons. |
| Observers say the US has long suspected the existence of a secret uranium enrichment programme in the North, though experts say it remains little-developed. | |
| In the past few months, North Korea has fired a long-range rocket over Japanese territory and conducted an underground, plutonium-based nuclear test. | |
| Renewed tensions | |
| But more recently, the secretive communist nation has made more conciliatory gestures on the world stage. | |
| Two US reporters and a South Korean worker were released from detention and Pyongyang said it was interested in resuming cross-border tourismand industrial projects with the South. | |
| Less than two weeks ago, the first meeting between officials from the North and South for nearly two years took place unexpectedly in the southern capital, Seoul. | |
| However, the latest communique indicated that the North was unhappy that the UN allowed South Korea to launch a satellite last month, after having condemned its own rocket launch in April, Reuters reported. | |
| Correspondents said Pyongyang's latest remarks appeared to seek once again to ratchet up tensions on the Korean peninsula. |