North Korea halts denuclearisation

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea said Tuesday it has stopped disabling its nuclear plants and will consider restoring them because the United States has failed to remove it from a terrorism blacklist.

The White House, however, said Pyongyang would stay on a US terrorism blacklist until all sides agree on a protocol to verify that Pyongyang has ended its nuclear programs.

“The United States will not take North Korea off the state sponsor of terrorism list until we have a protocol in place to verify the dismantling and accounting for Korea’s nuclear program,” said spokesman Tony Fratto.

The communist state accused the US of an “outright violation” of a six-nation nuclear disarmament deal and said work to make the plutonium-producing plants at Yongbyon unusable had halted on August 14.

“Secondly, the DPRK (North Korea) will consider soon a step to restore the nuclear facilities in Yongbyon to their original state as strongly requested by its relevant institutions,” said a foreign ministry spokesman.