Quoting former lawmaker Chang Sung-min, Yonhap News Agency said that during informal talks between the North and the United States in New York July 8, Pyongyang officials confirmed that the communist country had completed the reprocessing of the spent nuclear fuel rods on June 30.

Yonhap also said Jang, who is in the United States, told the agency, quoting a high-level US official.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry said it cannot confirm "matters related to intelligence."

Chang said the North's representatives told the US that Pyongyang has "no choice but to use the reprocessed material) as nuclear deterrents."

If Chang's claims are verified, it would mark the first time for the Stalinist country to officially inform the United States that it has completed the reprocessing of the nuclear rods to extract plutonium and revealed an intention to use the material for nuclear weapons.

The North also stated during the talks that it would recognize the "New York channel" as the only official route to dialogue between the North and the United States, Chang added.

Those believed to have attended the meeting included North Korean representative to the United Nations Park Gil-yon, deputy representative Han Song-ryol, US Department of State envoy to Pyongyang Jack Pritchard and Deputy Korean Office Director David Straub.

Another report in Japan said US intelligence authorities have confirmed that North Korea has reprocessed spent nuclear fuel rods, a move that could enable it to develop atomic weapons.

Japan's Kyodo news agency said in a report Saturday, quoting a US intelligence source, that the White House received fresh intelligence on Thursday indicating the fuel rods had been reprocessed at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear facility north of the capital city Pyongyang.

The source said the United States has detected krypton 85, a reprocessing byproduct, in air samples from Yongbyong's vicinity.