North Korea threatened Tuesday to use nuclear weapons at “any time” against the U.S., saying that its atomic program is a response to a “reckless hostile policy” from Washington.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency said that the North's nuclear program had been "steadily improved" by scientists and technicians. It added that uranium enrichment and the reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear facility -- which had been shut down under an agreement reached in the six-party talks in 2007 -- had been restarted in 2013.
Pyongyang had said previously that work had resumed at Yongbyon, but the status of the plant’s operation had been questioned by foreign analysts off and on for the past year.