Agency says North Korea disabled U.N. monitoring cameras

VIENNA, Austria -- North Korea disabled U.N. surveillance equipment installed at one of its reactors Saturday, prompting the U.N. nuclear agency to express "deep regret" over the action and issue a new call for restraint.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said he urged the reclusive nation not to take further actions to restart its nuclear program.

ElBaradei said North Korea "cut most of the seals and impeded the functioning of surveillance equipment" at one of its 5-megawatt reactors at Nyongbyong.

"These actions were taken in spite of repeated IAEA appeals that they take no unilateral action ... until the IAEA had the necessary measures in place to ensure the continuity of safeguards" at North Korean nuclear facilities, ElBaradei said.

He said the country's actions "prevented an orderly transition from IAEA monitoring of the freeze of the reactor to a situation where we would be monitoring the facility during its operation."

The U.N. agency said it "continues to maintain a permanent inspector presence in the DPRK (North Korea) and is monitoring the situation very closely."

In October, North Korea made the startling revelation that it has a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 agreement with Washington.

Experts say North Korea could quickly extract enough plutonium from its old facilities to make several nuclear weapons. North Korea denies this.

The U.N. agency has been monitoring the freeze of North Korea's reactors and other nuclear operations at its Nyongbyong site since 1994, including keeping inspectors there continuously.

Under the agreement signed in Geneva, North Korea pledged to freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear weapons program in exchange for international aid to build two power-producing nuclear reactors.

At the time, North Korea showed IAEA inspectors only about 100 grams of weapons-grade plutonium, IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told The Associated Press. Only new inspections will be able to ascertain whether the country has produced substantially more, he said.

The nuclear agency has held technical talks with the North Koreans twice a year over the past several years, but those meetings have not resulted in any serious consideration of inspections. North Korea withdrew its membership from the IAEA in 1994.

Earlier this year, the IAEA's general assembly adopted a resolution expressing "serious concern" over North Korea's refusal to cooperate and verify that its nuclear energy program meets international safety guidelines.

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