North Korea has completed reprocessing thousands of spent fuel rods, producing plutonium which could be used in nuclear weapons. The official KCNA news agency said North Korea successfully completed the reprocessing of 8,000 spent fuel rods as part of the measure taken to restore the nuclear facilities to their original state. KCNA said noticeable successes have been made in turning the extracted plutonium weapon-grade for the purpose of bolstering up the nuclear deterrent. The statement comes a day after North Korea said it was ready for talks with the US on its nuclear programme. It also threatened to go its own way if Washington refused direct talks.