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SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea announced it would quit six-nation disarmament talks and restart its nuclear weapons programme in protest at a UN statement condemning its rocket launch earlier this month.
The communist state said it "sternly rejects" the Security Council's action and would strengthen its nuclear deterrent in response.
"There is no need for the six-party (nuclear disarmament) talks any more," said a foreign ministry statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
"We will never again take part in such talks and will not be bound by any agreement reached at the talks."
The North "will strengthen its nuclear deterrent for its defence by all means," it said.
"We will take steps to restore disabled nuclear facilities... and reprocess used fuel rods that came from experimental nuclear reactors."
Pyongyang had been disabling its plants at Yongbyon, which produced weapons-grade plutonium, as part of a February 2007 six-nation deal.
It previously threatened to quit the talks, which began in 2003, should the Security Council criticise its April 5 rocket launch.
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