Seals that prevented North Korea from using its main nuclear plant at Yongbyon have been removed, the UN's atomic watchdog says.
North Korean officials have also said that UN inspectors will have no North Korea says it will restart nuclear reactor ...
Six-party talks on North Korean denuclearisation begin ...
S.
Korean president calls for new talks ...
Charles Wheeler ...
Bush to visit South Korea before heading to Olympics ...
N. Korea reactor tower blown up ... further access to the Yongbyon plant.
The move comes amid a dispute over an international disarmament-for-aid deal for North Korea.
Pyongyang says Washington has not taken it off a list of state sponsors of terrorism, as previously promised.
North Korea has also told UN inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that "they plan to introduce nuclear material to the reprocessing plant in one week's time", IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.
The removal of seals and cameras "was completed today", Ms Fleming said, adding: "There are no more IAEA seals and surveillance equipment in place at the reprocessing facility."
Symbolic gesture
Pyongyang began dismantling the reactor last November, but on Friday it announced that it was working to reactivate it.
Pyongyang was expecting to be removed from the US terror list after submitting a long-delayed account of its nuclear facilities to the international talks in June, in accordance with the disarmament deal it signed in 2007.
It also blew up the main cooling tower at Yongbyon in a symbolic gesture of its commitment to the process.
However, the US said it would not remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism until procedures by which the North's disarmament would be verified were established.
The removal of similar seals in December 2002 sparked a long-running crisis which resulted in Pyongyang testing an atomic weapon in 2006.
(BBC)
<< Back