EU ministers worried over North Korea nuclear moves

(STOCKHOLM) - European Union foreign ministers voiced concern at North Korea's announcement Friday that it has reached the final stages of enriching uranium.

"We are very concerned," said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, whose country holds the presidency of the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations.

"It is one of the key points in our G8 presidency. Non-proliferation is at the very top of our agenda," he added, as he entered informal talks with fellow EU foreign ministers in Stockholm.

Pyongyang, in a defiant response to tougher United Nations sanctions, announced Friday not only that it had made the uranium breakthrough but that it was building more plutonium-based atomic bombs.

Pyongyang for years denied US claims of a secret enriched uranium bomb-making programme, in addition to the admitted plutonium-based operation which fuelled two nuclear tests.

"The situation ... is worrying," echoed Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the EU presidency.

His Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb also voicing concern said the reports from North Korea would have to be verified.

"We think the Americans have done a good job in trying to soften the situation there, but we also want to see some results on the North Korea side," he added.