SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea said yesterday it was using plutonium extracted from some 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods to make atomic bombs, alarming South Korea and other Asian countries that feared the assertion would jeopardize efforts to resolve the nuclear dispute peacefully.

It was unclear whether the announcement was a sign North Korea has turned its back on the possibility of giving up its nuclear capabilities, or was an attempt to gain leverage ahead of any talks on the matter. The North has made similar provocative statements since the nuclear crisis started a year ago, but has engaged in two rounds of talks involving U.S. officials in Beijing since then.

"The (North) successfully finished the reprocessing of some 8,000 spent fuel rods," an unidentified spokesman from the communist nation's Foreign Ministry said in the statement carried by its official news agency, KCNA.

American intelligence analysts believe North Korea already has at least one or two nuclear bombs. When reprocessed with chemicals, 8,000 rods can yield enough plutonium to make five or six more, according to experts.

North Korea may have reprocessed some rods after U.N. inspectors left the country in January, U.S. officials believe, but how much is unclear. The number is believed to be well under all 8,000, however.

American officials say reprocessing stopped a few weeks ago and has not restarted.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday the United States had not confirmed the North Korean claim, adding, "They've made that statement before."

"There's no legitimate use for plutonium harvested during these procedures," McClellan said. "It would be a clear indication that they are intent on enlarging their nuclear arsenal, despite the call from the international community for North Korea to change its behavior."

In its statement yesterday, North Korea accused the United States of a "hostile policy" toward the country and said it had "made a switchover in the use of plutonium churned out by reprocessing spent fuel rods in the direction (of) increasing its nuclear deterrent force."

North Korea has claimed before to have reprocessed its pool of 8,000 spent rods, but yesterday marked the first it said the plutonium has been used to make nuclear weapons.

South Korea expressed concern. "This latest North Korean statement could hurt efforts to resolve the nuclear problem peacefully, hurt development of South-North Korean relations and damage the atmosphere of dialogue," South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil said.

Japan and China did not comment, but other Asian governments said they were concerned.

"Any steps that bring nearer the prospect of nuclear proliferation on the Korean peninsula would be a source of great concern to Indonesia," Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Franklin Ebdalin said it was unfortunate and would make the nuclear standoff "more difficult to resolve."

The existence of more than one weapon could mean the isolated regime might part with one bomb, either in a test or by selling it, although a senior official and the main communist newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said North Korea has pledged not to export its nuclear capability.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon said the North is expanding its "nuclear deterrence" but wouldn't say how many weapons it has, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

"We (have) no intention of transferring any means of that nuclear deterrence to other countries," Choe was quoted as telling reporters in New York, where he was attending the U.N. General Assembly.

North Korea also said yesterday that when necessary, it will reprocess more spent fuel rods from the small reactor in its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, 50 miles north of Pyongyang.

North Korea restarted its frozen 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon after kicking out U.N. nuclear inspectors and quitting the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in January. Experts say it would take a year of operation before the reactor could produce enough to make a new weapon.

Pyongyang tends to escalate its harsh rhetoric in attempts, analysts say, at extracting concessions in crucial negotiations.

Last month, several U.S. government officials told The Associated Press that intelligence analysts are debating the extent of North Korea's nuclear capability.

Among the issues is whether the North has refined its nuclear weapon designs so it can use less plutonium to make a working weapon. Some analysts presume the North Koreans have made advances and thus are able to use their existing stockpile of weapons-grade plutonium more efficiently, the American officials said.