China plays important role in denuclearization

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-27 23:12

PYONGYANG -- The demolition of the cooling tower at Yongbyon, the nuclear center of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), demonstrated that China had played an important role in the denuclearization process, a DPRK official said Friday.

The destruction was a fruit of the six-party talks in which China, the chair of the negotiations, played an important role, said Li Yong Ho, a department director of the DPRK General Department of Atomic Energy, to Chinese reporters who witnessed the explosion of the tower.

The explosion was "very successful," Li said, adding that it would push forward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The cooling tower, a key element of the five megawatt electric reactor at Yongbyon, was blown up at 5:05 p.m. local time (0805 GMT) Friday.

The DPRK's nuclear program is centered at Yongbyon, about 100 km north of Pyongyang. It consists of the reactor, a fuel fabrication facility and a plutonium reprocessing plant, where weapons-grade material would be extracted from spent fuel rods.

The destruction of the cooling tower, a key element of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, symbolized significant progress in the disablement phase under the September 2005 agreement of the six-party talks, and meant it would be impossible for the DPRK to restart its nuclear program in a short time.

The six-party talks, aimed at the disarmament of the DPRK's nuclear program, have the momentum to reach the next phase.

The DPRK Thursday submitted the long-delayed account of its nuclear inventory to China.

The United States accordingly announced the same day that it may remove the DPRK from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in August if the country meets all its obligations under the six-party talks.