North Korea Lifts Nuclear Ante as It Seeks U.S. Talks (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

North Korea Lifts Nuclear Ante as It Seeks U.S. Talks (Update1) - Bloomberg.com: "North Korea said it finished reprocessing spent fuel rods to extract plutonium used in nuclear weapons as the communist country pressures the U.S. to agree to bilateral talks on its atomic program.

“Noticeable successes have been made in turning the extracted plutonium weapon-grade,” the country’s official Korean Central News Agency said today. North Korea had completed reprocessing 8,000 spent fuel rods at the end of August at its main Yongbyon complex, the report said.

The statement comes a day after the communist country threatened to “go its own way” if the U.S. doesn’t commit to direct talks on its nuclear weapons ambitions. Kim Jong Il’s regime withdrew from multilateral disarmament negotiations in April in protest against the United Nations’ condemnation of its firing of a long-range missile over Japan."