DPRK destroys cooling tower at Yongbyon nuclear complex

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-27 16:57

Seoul - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) destroyed the the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex Friday afternoon, according to a news report, in a sign of its commitment to stop making plutonium for atomic bombs.

A satellite image of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex with the reactor's cooling tower (circled) and a view of the tower as seen from the ground (R) are pictured in this undated combination photo released by South Korea's Yonhap news agency in Seoul June 26, 2008. [Agencies]

The reported demolition of the 60-foot-tall tower at its main reactor complex was a gesture in response to US concessions granted after DPRK delivered a declaration Thursday of its nuclear programs under an agreement at international arms talks.

South Korean TV network MBC said the reactor blast occurred shortly after 4 pm local time before an audience of international TV cameras. There were no other immediate details.

The explosion came 20 months after Pyongyang shocked the world by detonating a nuclear bomb in an underground test to confirm its status as an atomic power. Last year, Pyongyang switched off the reactor at Yongbyon, some 60 miles north of the capital of Pyongyang, and it has already begun disabling the facility under the watch of US experts so that it cannot easily be restarted.

The destruction of the cooling tower, which carries off waste heat to the atmosphere, is another step forward.

Those attending the event include the top US State Department expert on the Koreas, Sung Kim, along with broadcasters from the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

DPRK's nuclear declaration, which was delivered six months later than the country promised and has not yet been released publicly, was being distributed Friday by China, the chair of the arms talks, to the other countries involved, US envoy Christopher Hill said in Kyoto, Japan.

"We'll have to study it very carefully and then we'll have to work on verification," Hill said.

The chief negotiators from the six-party talks will seek some answers as they meet in Beijing, possibly as early as Monday, to discuss specifics on how the DPRK's declaration will be verified. And possibly in July, the highest-level contact between the Washington and Pyongyang since 2000 may take place at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the six nations, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her DPRK counterpart.