North Korea threatened to stop taking apart its nuclear plant that makes bomb-grade plutonium unless Japan provides it with energy aid as part of an international disarmament deal, Kyodo news agency said on Monday. The threat is the latest snag in the sputtering deal the North struck with five regional powers and comes about two weeks after the United States called for a halt in all energy aid to punish Pyongyang for failing to agree this month to a system to check claims it made about its atomic programmes.
Suspension: Kyodo quoted a Beijing-based diplomat who participates in the six-way nuclear talks as saying: "Unless Japan implements the heavy fuel assistance, the (disablement) activities will be suspended." Kyodo later said Yoshihiro Kawakami, a Japanese lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Party, had quoted the diplomat as making the remarks in a meeting in the Chinese capital.