SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- The South Korean government on Friday expressed regrets on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s earlier claim of continuing uranium enrichment and plutonium weaponization.
"It can be interpreted as North Korea (the DPRK) rejecting the international society's firm resolution by continuing with such provocative measures, and it can never be tolerated," Moon Tae-young, spokesman for the foreign ministry, said in a statement.
The South Korean government called the DPRK's current move running counter to the international community's implementation of UN Security Council sanctions adopted to punish the country for its nuclear tests.
Earlier in the day, the DPRK's state media reported that "Pyongyang's experimental uranium enrichment has successfully been conducted to enter into completion phase," quoting a letter sent by the DPRK U.N. envoy to the U.N. Security Council.
"Reprocessing of spent fuel rods is at its final phase and extracted plutonium is being weaponized," it added.
The South Korean government reportedly plans to deal with the matter "sternly and consistently."
"The South Korean government will closely cooperate with related countries to urge the DPRK scrap all the nuclear weapon programs and to bring the country back to six-party talks on denuclearization," Moon said.
source: news.xinhuanet.com
