Japan expresses regret over N. Korea's latest nuclear move+

TOKYO, Nov. 4 Kyodo - Japan regrets North Korea's completion of reprocessing about 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods at its Yongbyon nuclear complex as of the end of August, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Wednesday.

''If that is a fact, I cannot help but say that is extremely regrettable
because that violates U.N. Security Council resolutions,'' Hirano told a news
conference.
While stressing that Tokyo is still analyzing the information, the top
government spokesman said, ''We cannot tolerate North Korea possessing nuclear
(capabilities).''
Hirano urged North Korea to return to the six-party talks aimed at
denuclearizing the country, saying that Tokyo wants Pyongyang to do so as soon
as possible.
The nuclear disarmament talks, involving the two Koreas, the United States,
China, Japan and Russia, have been stalled since last December.
In April, North Korea withdrew from the talks and said it would start
reprocessing nuclear spent fuel rods to produce plutonium in protest against
U.N. criticism of its rocket launch earlier that month.
The announcement by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency, which came
a day after Pyongyang repeated its call for direct talks with Washington, is
seen as a move apparently aimed at drawing the United States into such talks to
address the nuclear standoff.
In September, Washington announced a plan to seek direct talks with Pyongyang
as part of efforts to resume the six-way talks. But the United States is still
deciding when and where to have the bilateral talks, a U.S. State Department
spokesman said.
==Kyodo