Seoul - North Korea announced Tuesday it will boycott international negotiations on ending its nuclear weapons programme and restore nuclear facilities that have been disabled as part of an earlier multilateral agreement. The Six-Party Talks "in which we are participating have become no longer necessary," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

The statement came in response to a United Nations Security Council statement from Monday condemning an earlier rocket launch.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry also said it intended to re-start a reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear facility and reprocess nuclear fuel rods. (dpa)