NKorea vows to restart nuclear reactor,end talks

SEOUL, South Korea-North Korea vowed Tuesday to restart its nuclear reactor and to boycott international disarmament talks for good in retaliation for the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its rocket launch.Russia, voicing regret over the move, urged Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table. The Foreign Ministry called the U.N. statement "legitimate and well-balanced," and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said all sides must stick to the current disarmament process. China, the North's main ally, appealed for calm.In Washington, a senior U.S. official called the decision "unfortunate.""It will further isolate the North from the rest of the international community, and the North will have to deal with that," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.North Korea's denunciation of the council's "hostile" move came just hours after all 15 members, including Beijing and Moscow, unanimously agreed to condemn the April 5 launch as a violation of U.N. resolutions and to tighten sanctions against the regime.The U.N. statement, issued eight days after the launch, was weaker than the resolution Japan and the United States had pursued but still drew an angry response from Pyongyang, which called it "unjust" and a violation of international law.North Korea claims it sent a communications satellite into space as part of a peaceful bid to develop its space program.The U.S. and others call the launch an illicit test of the technology used to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile, even one eventually destined for the U.S.A Security Council resolution passed in 2006, days after North Korea carried out an underground nuclear test, prohibits Pyongyang from engaging in any ballistic missile-related activity-including launching rockets that use the same delivery technology as missiles mounted with warheads, Washington and other nations say.The council on Monday demanded an end to the rocket launches and said it will expand sanctions against the communist nation. The council also called for quick resumption of disarmament talks.President Barack Obama called the statement a "clear and united message" that North Korea's action was unlawful and would result in real consequences, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.North Korea, following through on earlier threats to withdraw from international disarmament talks if the council so much as criticized the launch, announced Tuesday it would boycott the 5 1/2-year-old negotiations hosted by China."The six-party talks have lost the meaning of their existence, never to recover," the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement, declaring it would never participate in the talks again and is no longer bound to previous agreements....

PICTURE:South Korean women pass by illustrations of North Korean missiles at an observation post in Paju near the border village of Panmunjom, South Korea, Tuesday, April 14, 2009. North Korea vowed Tuesday to restore nuclear facilities it has been disabling and boycott international talks on its atomic weapons program to protest the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of the country's rocket launch.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
-Associated Press writers Kwang-tae Kim in Seoul, Matthew Lee in Washington, Shino Yuasa in Tokyo, George Jahn in Vienna, Christopher Bodeen and Gillian Wong in Beijing, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, contributed to this report.
By HYUNG-JIN KIM--AP Writer

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