Han called South Korea's uranium enrichment experiment "a dangerous move that would accelerate a nuclear arms race in Northeast Asia," Yonhap said.
"We see South Korea's uranium enrichment experiment in the context of an arms race in Northeast Asia," Han was quoted as saying. "Because of the South Korean experiment, it has become difficult to control the acceleration of a nuclear arms race."
Han's comments were North Korea's first reaction to the South Korean admission this week that its scientists produced a small amount of enriched uranium in an experiment in 2000.
The reaction signaled that North Korea could use the South Korean experiment as leverage in further talks on US-led efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear development.
South Korea said yesterday it should have reported the uranium enrichment experiment to the UN nuclear watchdog agency.
South Korea admitted last week that its scientists produced 0.2 grams of enriched uranium during the experiment at its main government-affiliated nuclear research institute. "We should have reported that uranium was used during this experiment," a senior official at the South Korean Foreign Ministry said on the condition of anonymity. He spoke to reporters at a briefing.
South Korea has denied the experiment reflected an interest in developing nuclear weapons.
State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher has criticized the secret experiment, saying it shouldn't have occurred. But he praised South Korea for working with the International Atomic Energy Agency to make sure the program has ended.
Asked whether South Korea had experimented with plutonium, Boucher withheld comment, noting the United States is aware of what Seoul has reported to the IAEA about its past activities.
In the early 1970s, South Korea was developing a nuclear weapons program, but abandoned it under US pressure and signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in April 1975 before producing the material required to make a bomb. A senior Bush administration official said yesterday that those secret experiments involved plutonium.
The IAEA has asked "plutonium-related" questions during the course of routine investigations over the years, but the plutonium issue was not mentioned in the recent IAEA report on the uranium enrichment case, the South Korean Foreign Ministry official said.
