North Korea to resume taking apart its nuclear plant after deal
Güncelleme Tarihi:
A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman welcomed on Sunday a U.S. decision to remove Pyongyang from a terrorism blacklist and said the state would resume work to take apart its plutonium-producing nuclear plant.
"We welcome the U.S. which has honored its commitment to delist the DPRK (North Korea) as a state sponsor of terrorism," a foreign ministry spokesman told the official Korean Central News Agency.  Â
"The DPRK decided to resume the disablement of nuclear facilities in Yongbyon and allow the inspectors of the U.S. and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) to perform their duties."
The U.S. announced Saturday that it had removed North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism after reaching an agreement on how to verify its nuclear program.
The North’s spokesman said Sunday that the agreement relates to "the verification of objects of the disablement of nuclear facilities" -- a reference to its declared plutonium-producing operation at Yongbyon.
He also said future work would depend on whether the delisting "actually takes effect" and whether other signatories to a six-nation disarmament accord complete delivery of promised energy aid.
The latest US-North Korean deal allows for outside experts to visit both declared and undeclared sites in North Korea, take and remove samples and equipment for analysis, view documents and interview staff, U.S. officials said.
However, visits to sites not included in the North’s nuclear declaration delivered in June will require "mutual consent."