Seoul/Beijing  - North Korea said Tuesday it completed reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods to obtain plutonium for nuclear weapons.

The work was completed by the end of August at its Yongbyon nuclear facility, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

The Stalinist state earlier this year left international talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programme, following Western criticism of its long-range missile tests. In May, North Korea conducted its second nuclear test. North Korea appears to have fully restored its Yongbyon nuclear facility, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Monday citing government officials. The plant is capable of making plutonium for weapons from used fuel rods.

The country dismantled significant parts of its nuclear facilities as part of a treaty in February 2007 with the US, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan.

North Korea announced a month ago that it was turning its plutonium stock into new nuclear weapons to increase its arsenal. (dpa)