By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
North Korea is restoring a key nuclear reactor shut down last year under a disarmament-for-aid pact signed with five other countries, to protest the United States' delay in taking it off a list of terrorism-sponsoring nations, a report said Wednesday, quoting unidentified U.S. officials.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was trying to confirm the authenticity of the report, citing a time difference between Seoul and Washington.
The Fox News report came about a week after Pyongyang had announced its intent to suspend the disablement of nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, blaming the United States for failing to remove it from the terrorism blacklist. The North's foreign ministry said in a statement that it would restore already disabled nuclear facilities.
The U.S. news outlet said North Korea's motive wasn't clear, but it seems a ``symbolic gesture'' to put pressure on the U.S. government, which calls for the establishment of a stringent protocol to verify the North's nuclear declaration made in June before the delisting.
``They've been threatening this move for some time,'' a U.S. official was quoted as saying. He added that until now the threats were seen as merely a way for North Korean officials ``to express their anger.''
Another U.S. official was quoted as saying that the reactor could be back in operation in two to three months though the cooling tower had been demolished after the declaration.
``Since Pyongyang announced a plan to restore its Yongbyon nuclear facility Aug. 26, the government has been keeping abreast of the situation there through officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the U.S. government staying there,'' Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Restoration of the nuclear facilities would seriously damage the denuclearization process under six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, said the statement.
The disablement of the plutonium-producing Yongbyong plant was the key part of the so-called Feb. 13 agreement. North Korea shut down the reactor following the deal under which it is required to declare and abandon all its nuclear programs in return for economic and political concessions, including removal from the U.S. terror list.
The delisting is crucial for the North since Washington has banned the impoverished communist country from receiving foreign aid and loans. North Korea was put on the list in 1988 after its agents blew up a South Korean passenger plane, killing all 115 people aboard.
Pyongyang submitted an inventory of its nuclear materials and programs in June 24, prompting U.S. President George W. Bush to give the minimum 45-day notice to the Congress of his intent to remove the communist state from the list of terrorism sponsors. That deadline passed Aug. 11.
However, Washington insists it will remove North Korea from the terror list only after the country agrees fully to a verification plan.
The United States wants intrusive inspections of North Korean nuclear facilities, soil sampling, interviews with key scientists involved in the nuclear programs and a role for U.N. atomic experts in the verification process.