North Korea said on Sunday it would resume taking apart its plutonium-producing nuclear plant and allow in inspectors in response to a US decision to remove it from a terrorism blacklist and salvage a faltering nuclear deal. "As the US fulfilled its commitment to make political compensation and a fair verification procedure in line with the phase of disablement ... the DPRK (North Korea) decided to resume the disablement of nuclear facilities in Yongbyon," the North's KCNA news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.
Nuclear inspectors: The spokesman said the North would "allow the inspectors of the United States and the IAEA to perform their duties on the principle of 'action for action'," saying it will disable the nuclear plant and permit the inspectors in as others fulfil their obligations. The US decision was made after the secretive North agreed to a series of verification steps on its nuclear plant, a State Department spokesman said in Washington on Saturday.
The deal also called for resuming disablement and allowing in inspectors. Last month North Korea lashed out at not being removed by backing away from the disarmament-for-aid deal it made with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, and took initial measures to rebuild its Soviet-era nuclear plant, which was being disabled under the pact's terms.