Special to WorldTribune.com

North Korea’s Atomic Energy Institute (AEI) confirmed on Sept. 15 that Pyongyang has restarted the nuclear reactor that is its main source of weapons-grade plutonium.

The confirmation by the AEI came after the leader of Pyongyang’s national space agency hinted at a possible satellite rocket launch next month. Analysts said the two statements were clearly coordinated as North Korea seeks attention at the U.S.-China summit slated later this month.

The AEI said the reactor at Yongbyon, dormant since 2007, was restarted. North Korea began renovations on the Yongbyon reactor in 2013 after its last nuclear test.

The director of the AEI told the North’s official KCNA news agency that all facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear complex — including a five-megawatt reactor — had “started normal operations.”

The reactor is capable of producing around six kilos (13 pounds) of plutonium a year when fully operational. Experts say that is enough for one nuclear bomb.

The AEI director also issued a warning to the United States: “If the U.S. and other hostile forces persistently seek their reckless hostile policy … (North Korea) is fully ready to cope with them with nuclear weapons any time.”

The North is also considering a satellite rocket launch on Oct. 10 to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.

“The world will clearly see a series of satellites… soaring into the sky at the times and locations determined by the WPK central committee,” the director of the North’s National Aerospace Development Administration said on Sept. 14.

Propaganda out of Pyongyang insists the rocket launches are intended to put peaceful satellites into orbit, but the U.S. and its allies see them as disguised ballistic missile tests.

China has repeatedly protected North Korea from tougher sanctions over its nuclear and missile tests, but is seen as increasingly impatient with the Kim Jong-Un regime’s provocative behavior

Some analysts say Pyongyang ramped up its rhetoric to coincide with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s scheduled state visit to the United States later this month.

“Pyongyang wants the North Korea issue high on the agenda of Xi’s talks with President Obama,” said Koh Yu-Hwan, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul. “The North always wants the attention of the global community and knows that flagging its weapons programs is one way to get it.”

Recent satellite images show Pyongyang has upgraded facilities at its main Sohae satellite launch station. Analysts at the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University believe the Sohae launchpad can now handle rockets up to 50 meters (165 feet) in length — almost 70 percent longer than the Unha-3 ICBM prototype rocket which was successfully launched in December 2012.

Developing a working ICBM would be seen as a game-changer for North Korea, bringing the mainland United States within range of a possible nuclear strike.

  China, Kim Jong-Un, N. Korea restarts reactor, signals missile test in apparent bid for attention by U.S., WorldTribune.com, Xi Jinping, Yongbyon reactor