DHAKA: North Korea says its main nuclear facility, the Yongbyon complex, has resumed normal operations.

The country was improving its nuclear weapons ‘in quality and quantity’, state-run news agency KCNA reported, according to the BBC.

Yongbyon’s reactor was shut down in 2007 but Pyongyang vowed to restart it in 2013, following its third nuclear test and amid high regional tensions.

The reactor has been the source of plutonium for North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

Experts believe that if re-started, the reactor could potentially make one bomb's worth of plutonium per year.

The announcement about Yongbyon is the first official confirmation from North Korea that it has restarted operations there.

A US think-tank said earlier this year that satellite images suggested that work had commenced at the plant.

BDST: 1606 HRS, SEPT 15, 2015
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