Angry with UN statement,N Korea says it will restart nuclear plant

North Korea,which refers to itself as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,or DPRK,said in the statement that it “resolutely rejects the unjust action” taken by the UN Security Council. “There would be no need to hold six-party talks which the DPRK has attended,” it added,as they have “turned into a platform for infringing upon the sovereignty of the DPRK and seeking to force the DPRK to disarm itself.”

North Korea also said it would “actively consider” building a nuclear light-water reactor and reprocess spent fuel rods at am atomic power plant. Pyongyang had partially dismantled its Yongbyon nuclear plant in 2008,as part of an international agreement which guaranteed it aid and other concessions in exchange for disabling its atomic facilities.

Some analysts have speculated that the missile test was simply North Korea’s familiar tactic of escalating tensions in the belief that it would bring new concessions and offers of aid,before returning to the negotiating table.

But,as is always the case,second guessing the tactics of the opaque regime is highly problematic. “The statement is unfortunate and a cause for serious concern,but it’s not a great surprise,” said Daniel A Pinkston,a senior analyst in Seoul for the International Crisis Group,a non-governmental organization committed to conflict prevention. “It makes things much more difficult in trying to walk back and stop the escalation,” Pinkston said. “Apparently they are dissatisfied with a number of things and the succession issue may be tied into that.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was on Thursday elected him to another five-year term by Parliament. But the secretive regime gave no clues,after months of questions about Kim’s failing health,as to which of his three sons might be prepared to succeed him. His medical condition had appeared to speed up plans to pick one as a successor,requiring him to bolster support among the military and within his ruling party,according to analysts.

The situation is also complicated by economic privation in North Korea,where the regime can no longer deliver even the most basic of goods. Attempts to follow Chinese-style market reforms have proven half-hearted,probably out of fear that they will lead to a loss of political control. China,North Korea’s most important ally,appealed on Tuesday for “calm and restraint” from all sides after the North Korean statement.