North Korea halts atomic weapons deal
An angry North Korea has halted its nuclear disarmament plans in protest at America continuing to list it as a terrorism-supporting country.
Removal from the list had been a key part of the deal agreed last year for the country to shut down its main reactor.
North Korea said it may also restore the plutonium-making plant it has already demolished in a public show.
The moves are expected to escalate tension in the nuclear talks involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, America and Russia.
Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry said: “The US postponed the process of delisting the (North) as a 'state sponsor of terrorism'. Now that the US breached the agreed points, the (North) is compelled to take” countermeasures, it said.
The ministry also said the country will “consider soon a step to restore” the Yongbyon nuclear facilities, but did not elaborate.
The statement came shortly after Chinese president Hu Jintao left South Korea after summit talks with President Lee Myung-bak that included discussions on the North Korean nuclear issue.
In June the US announced that it would delist the North as a terror sponsor after Pyongyang produced a long-delayed account of its nuclear programmes and blew up the reactor’s cooling tower in a symbolic move to demonstrate its commitment.
The two sides have been negotiating how to verify the nuclear declaration, with Washington insisting it would remove the North from the terror list only after Pyongyang agrees to a verification plan.
