WASHINGTON - NORTH Korea's plutonium production for atomic weapons 'runs counter' to its disarmament commitments and 'violates' UN Security Council resolutions, the State Department said on Tuesday.

Department spokesman Ian Kelly made the remarks after North Korea announced it has produced more plutonium for its nuclear weapons programme, putting further pressure on the United States to start direct talks.

He declined to condemn Tuesday's plutonium announcement or say whether he believed it ratcheted up simmering tension between President Barack Obama's administration and the reclusive Stalinist regime in Pyongyang.

'What we're focused on with North Korea is getting to the point where we can relaunch the six-party talks, which will get us to our ultimate goal, which is the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula,' he said.

The comments indicated growing impatience at Washington's delay in accepting Pyongyang's offer of high-level bilateral talks to end the nuclear standoff.

Experts believe the 8,000 spent reactor fuel rods could produce enough plutonium for one or two nuclear bombs, in addition to the North's current stockpile which could perhaps be used to create six to eight weapons. -- AFP