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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 4902565" data-attributes="member: 92282">N.Korea to build more nuclear bombs after UN voteA defiant North Korea on Saturday vowed to build more nuclear bombs and to start enriching uranium for a new weapons programme after the UN Security Council imposed sanctions over last month's nuclear test.The North, describing Friday's sanctions resolution as a "vile product" of a US-inspired campaign, said it would never abandon nuclear weapons and would treat any attempt to blockade it as an act of war.The 15-member Council voted unanimously on Friday to slap tougher sanctions on the North to cripple its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.Washington hailed the measure but warned that Pyongyang might respond with "further provocation."The hard-line communist state, in a foreign ministry statement reported by its official news agency, said all new plutonium it extracts would be weaponised.One third of used fuel rods from the Yongbyon reactor have so far been reprocessed into weapons-grade plutonium, it said."Secondly, we will start uranium enrichment," it said, adding the North had successfully developed the necessary technology.In 2002, the North denied US claims that it was operating a secret uranium enrichment programme in addition to its admitted plutonium-based operation.The plutonium-producing plants were shut down under a six-nation disarmament deal in 2007. But the North vowed to restart them after the Security Council in April condemned its long-range rocket launch."It has become an absolutely impossible option for the DPRK (North Korea) to even think about giving up its nuclear weapons," the statement said, adding it would consider any blockade as an act of war and would retaliate militarily.The North said it never wanted nuclear weapons "but it was an inevitable course of action forced upon us by the US hostile policy and nuclear threats.""No matter how hard the US-led hostile forces may try all sorts of isolation and blockade, the DPRK, a proud nuclear power, will not flinch from them."Resolution 1874 passed Friday, which does not authorise the use of force, calls on UN member states to expand sanctions imposed after the North's initial nuclear test in October 2006.The new resolution calls for tougher inspections of cargo suspected of containing banned missile- and nuclear-related items, a tighter arms embargo with the exception of light weapons, and new targeted financial restrictions to choke off revenue for Pyongyang's nuclear and missile sectors.The resolution also "demands that the DPRK not conduct any further nuclear test or any launch using ballistic missile technology" and abandon all nuclear weapons and programmes "in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner."US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said from Washington that based on a pattern of "reckless and dangerous actions, it would not be a surprise if North Korea reacted to this very tough sanctions regime in a fashion that would be further provocation."US intelligence officials believe it will respond with a third atomic test, according to sources quoted by American TV networks.The North followed up its May 25 nuclear test by testing short-range missiles, renouncing the armistice on the Korean peninsula and threatening possible attacks on South Korea.Seoul has sent some 600 Marine reinforcements to two border islands amid the high tensions.The claim to have developed uranium enrichment technology is alarming, said Professor Yang Moo-Jin of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies."If this is true, the world would face a very disturbing situation," he told AFP. "The North has abundant natural uranium of good quality which, if combined with technology and facilities, would result in a great nuclear arsenal."This means the US policy to disarm the North by sanctions simply did not work."The North last year said it had extracted 30 kg (66 pounds) of plutonium from Yongbyon over the years. It is not known whether this has already been weaponised.It could produce an additional 6 kg by reprocessing 8,000 spent fuel rods, Yang said, giving it access to 36 kg -- enough for eight or nine bombs.Baek Seung-Joo of the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses said the North "will face a strong backlash from the international community for lying in the past about its uranium enrichment programme."A key question will be whether China, the isolated North's major ally, will seriously implement the sanctions.Its UN ambassador Zhang Yesui told reporters countries involved in cargo inspections must act prudently in accordance with international and domestic laws" and with "sufficient evidence.""Under no circumstances should there be the use of force or the threat of use of force," he said, raising a concern that was also underscored by his Russian counterpart, Vitaly Churkin.<img src="http://www.google.com/hostednews/img/afp_logo.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></blockquote>

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