North Korea to resume dismantling nuclear facilities

SEOUL – North Korea said yesterday it will resume dismantling its main nuclear facilities, hours after the US removed the communist country from a list of states Washington says sponsor terrorism.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it will again allow inspections by the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency at its Yongbyon nuclear complex to verify the disablement process, pledged under a 2007 disarmament-for-aid deal with the US and four other regional powers. “We welcome the US which has honored its commitment to delist (North Korea) as ‘a state sponsor of terrorism,’” the ministry said in a statement carried by the country’s official Korean Central News Agency.North Korea halted its nuclear disablement in mid-August in anger over what it called US delays in removing it from the terror list.The country has since taken steps toward reassembling its plutonium-producing facility and barred international inspectors from the site.The US had said North Korea first had to allow verification of the declaration of its nuclear programmes it submitted in June.On Saturday, the US said it took the North off the terrorism blacklist because Pyongyang had agreed to all Washington’s nuclear inspection demands.US officials said North Korea agreed to allow atomic experts to take samples and conduct forensic tests at all of its declared nuclear facilities and undeclared sites on mutual consent, and would permit them to verify that it has told the truth about transfers of nuclear technology and allegations it ran a separate secret uranium enrichment programme.- Nampa-AP”We welcome the US which has honored its commitment to delist (North Korea) as ‘a state sponsor of terrorism,’” the ministry said in a statement carried by the country’s official Korean Central News Agency.North Korea halted its nuclear disablement in mid-August in anger over what it called US delays in removing it from the terror list.The country has since taken steps toward reassembling its plutonium-producing facility and barred international inspectors from the site.The US had said North Korea first had to allow verification of the declaration of its nuclear programmes it submitted in June.On Saturday, the US said it took the North off the terrorism blacklist because Pyongyang had agreed to all Washington’s nuclear inspection demands.US officials said North Korea agreed to allow atomic experts to take samples and conduct forensic tests at all of its declared nuclear facilities and undeclared sites on mutual consent, and would permit them to verify that it has told the truth about transfers of nuclear technology and allegations it ran a separate secret uranium enrichment programme.- Nampa-AP