N. Korea says it is restoring Yongbyon nuclear reactor

SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's Foreign Ministry said Friday the
communist country is restoring its main nuclear reactor and is no longer
interested in being removed from the U.S. list of terrorism-supporting countries.
The North "suspended the disablement of its nuclear facilities and work has been
underway to restore its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon to their original state
since some time ago," an unnamed spokesman for the ministry said in an interview
with the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
It was the first time that Pyongyang confirmed news reports that it has taken
initial steps towards restarting the main plutonium-producing reactor at
Yongbyon.
Pyongyang announced in late August that it had stopped disablement of its nuclear
plants, but has remained tightlipped on those reports.
The official called it a "a countermeasure against the action taken by the U.S.
to indefinitely put on hold the effectuation of the measure for delisting the
DPRK as a state sponsor of terrorism."
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of
North Korea.
"Now that the U.S.'s true colors are brought to light," the spokesman went on
saying, "the DPRK neither wishes to be delisted as a 'state sponsor of terrorism'
nor expects such a thing to happen. It will go its own way."
North Korea began disabling its key nuclear facilities in November and provided a
list of its nuclear programs in June as part of the six-nation nuclear
disarmament agreement signed last year. Washington promised to delist Pyongyang
from the terrorism blacklist in exchange for the declaration, but has so far not
made good on the promise, demanding that the North first agree to an
"international standard" for verifying the declaration.