The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Tuesday it has decided to restart operations at the Nyongbyon nuclear complex.

A spokesman for the General Department of Atomic Energy told the official KCNA news agency that the country will "readjust" and "restart" all nuclear facilities at the complex, including a uranium enrichment plant and a 5MW graphite moderated reactor that had been "mothballed and disabled under an agreement reached at the six-party talks in October, 2007. "

The spokesman said the decision was made at a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea on March 31 to cure the country's electricity shortage and boost up nuclear armed forces.

Such a move came days after the DPRK claimed that it had entered a "state of war" with South Korea.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Monday instructed the military to strongly respond to possible provocation by the DPRK without any political considerations.

Tensions have been running high on the Korean Peninsula since the DPRK conducted its third nuclear test on Feb. 12 as a countermeasure against the joint military drills of the United States and South Korea.

The DPRK has also threatened to launch a preemptive nuclear strike for self-defense and unilaterally nullified the 1953 armistice that suspended the Korean War.

The U.S. Navy was moving a sea-based radar platform closer to the Korean Peninsula in order to monitor military moves of the DPRK, including possible new missile launches, CNN quoted a Pentagon official as saying on Monday.

The United States sent F-22 stealth fighter jets to South Korea on Sunday to join military drills aimed at underscoring the U.S. commitment to defend Seoul in the face of an intensifying campaign of threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. (Full story)

U.S. Defense Department spokesman George Little said Monday that the dispatch of F-22 Raptor fighters to participate in a military exercise in the Republic of Korea(ROK) strengthens military interoperability of the two sides. (Full story)

The U.S. Navy is moving a sea- based radar platform closer to the Korean Peninsula in order to monitor military moves of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK), including possible new missile launches, CNN quoted a Defense Department official as saying on Monday. (Full story)

The White House said on Monday that Washington has not seen major military movements in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK) despite its recent" bellicose rhetoric.""I would note that despite the harsh rhetoric we are hearing from Pyongyang, we are not seeing changes to the North Korean military posture, such as large-scale mobilizations and positioning of forces," White House spokesman Jay Carney said at a briefing. But he said that Washington took Pyongyang's"bellicose rhetoric" seriously. (Full story)

South Korea's foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the restart of the nuclear reactor in Yongbyon would be "very regrettable" after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced its decision to restart operations at the Yongbyon nuclear facility. (Full story)