Us warns North korea over Nuclear Plants

The US has warned North Korea to refrain from
"irresponsible provocation" after the communist
state said its main nuclear facility had resumed
normal operations.
The reactor at Yongbyon has been the source of
plutonium for North Korea's nuclear weapons
programme.
The White House said North Korea should "focus
instead on fulfilling its international obligations".
The reactor was shut down in 2007 as part of a
disarmament-for-aid deal.
But Pyongyang vowed to restart it in 2013, following
its third nuclear test and amid high regional
tensions.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the
international community would not accept North
Korea as a nuclear state.
"We will work with our partners in the context of
the six-party talks to try to return North Korea to a
posture of fulfilling those commitments that they
have made," he said.
"We will repeat our call that North Korea should
refrain from the irresponsible provocations that
aggravate regional tension and should focus
instead on fulfilling its international obligations and
commitments."
Six-nation talks involving South Korea, the US,
China, Japan and Russia aimed at ending the
North's nuclear programme have been stalled since
2009.
Experts believe that, when fully operational, the
Yongbyon reactor can make one nuclear bomb's
worth of plutonium per year.
A US think-tank said earlier this year that satellite
images suggested work had started at the
Yongbyon complex.
But Tuesday's announcement was the first official
confirmation from North Korea that it had restarted
operations there.
The state-run news agency KCNA said North Korea
was improving its nuclear weapons "in quality and
quantity".
It said that the North was ready to face US hostility
with "nuclear weapons any time".
However, experts say North Korea's nuclear
capabilities are unclear.
Pyongyang claims it has made a device small
enough to fit a nuclear warhead on to a missile,
which it could launch at its enemies. But US officials
have cast doubt on the claim.
North Korea has made bellicose threats against its
neighbours and the US before, often to coincide
with annual joint military exercises held by South
Korea and US forces.
The two Koreas remain technically at war, because
the 1950-1953 war ended in an armistice, not a
peace treaty.