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N.K. orders U.N. inspectors from reactor

By George Jahn ASSOCIATED PRESS | Wednesday, September 24, 2008

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VIENNA, Austria (AP) – North Korea barred U.N. nuclear inspectors from its main nuclear reactor on Wednesday and within a week plans to reactivate the plant that once provided the plutonium for its atomic test explosion, the chief U.N. nuclear inspector said.

The North ordered the removal of the U.N. seals and surveillance equipment from the Yongbyon reactor, a sign it is making good on threats to restart a nuclear program that allowed it to conduct a test explosion two years ago.

But the North's moves could be motivated by strategy as well. It could use the year it would take to restart the North's sole reprocessing plant to wrest further concessions from the U.S. and other nations seeking to strip it of its atomic program.

Coming amid reports that that leader Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke, the nuclear reversal has fueled worries about a breakdown of international attempts to coax the North out of its confrontational isolation with most of the rest of the world.

North Korea officials have "informed the IAEA inspectors that they plan to introduce nuclear material to the reprocessing plant in one week's time," said a statement citing Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The statement said he told the the IAEA board that – acting on a North Korean request – his inspectors removed all agency seals and surveillance equipment from the reprocessing plant and its immediate area, in "work that was completed today."

ElBaradei also said the North Koreans barred the IAEA inspectors from further access to the plant.

North Korea in recent days had already signaled it would break out of a six-nation disarmament-for-aid deal, announcing that it was making "thorough preparations" to start up Yongbyon.

Inside the board meeting, Gregory L. Schulte, the chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, called the "moves to halt and reverse disablement ... unsettling." And in Seoul, Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young expressed deep concern.

But their comments were measured, reflecting fears that harsh condemnation would backfire by accelerating the North's move to restore its nuclear capacities.