North Korea says it has restarted nuclear fuel production plants in warning to US

North Korea said Tuesday that it had restarted all of its atomic bomb fuel production plants in a warning to the U.S. weeks after a standoff with South Korea.

The declaration by North Korea’s state media agency claimed that the country’s main nuclear facility at Yongbyon, in the country’s northwest, was “in full operation.” The complex, which includes plutonium and highly enriched uranium facilities, had been shut down in 2007, but officials vowed to restart it after conducting North Korea’s third nuclear test in 2013.

The latest claim follows Pyongyang’s warning Monday that it is ready to launch “satellites” aboard long-range rockets that the West considers banned long-range missiles meant to eventually threaten America’s mainland with atomic bombs. The North says the launches would mark the ruling communist party’s 70th anniversary next month.

An official quoted by the state news agency KNCA said that North Korea’s nuclear weapons are being improved in “quantity and quality”. The report added that North Korea was ready to answer U.S. hostility with nuclear weapons “at any time.”

Tuesday’s announcement will further worsen ties between Pyongyang and the outside world, and an analyst told the Associated Press it is likely meant to put pressure on Washington to restart talks that could eventually provide the impoverished North with concessions and ease rigid international sanctions.

Talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear program have been stalled since 2009.

Last month, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un ordered his troops to be “ready for war” with South Korea after he blamed Seoul for broadcasting propaganda statements across the frontier following a mine blast that maimed two South Korean soldiers. North Korean troops responded by firing a shell believed to be aimed at a loudspeaker broadcasting the propaganda.

Urgent talks between the two appeared to have quelled tensions and a deadline imposed by the North passed without any further attacks.