NKorea plans to activate Yongbyon reactor: IAEA

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VIENNA, Austria, Sept 24 (AP): North Korea plans to start reinserting some of the plutonium-producing nuclear material into its Yongbyon reactor within a week, the chief UN nuclear inspector said Wednesday.
The move is a further sign that the North is making good on threats to restart a nuclear program that allowed it to conduct a test explosion two years ago.
"The DPRK has ... informed the IAEA inspectors that they plan to introduce nuclear material to the reprocessing plant in one week's time," Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency told IAEA board.
He also said that - acting on a North Korean request - his inspectors removed all agency seals and surveillance equipment from the reactor and its immediate area, in "work that was completed today."
The North Koreans "further stated that from here on the IAEA inspectors will have no further access to the reprocessing plant," said an IAEA statement citing ElBaradei.
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.
The agency has been monitoring the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, which were shut down and then sealed as part of a North Korean pledge to disable its nuclear program. That move was meant to be a step toward eventually dismantling Yongbyon in return for diplomatic concessions and energy aid equivalent to 1 million tons of oil under a February 2007 deal with South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.