N. Korea explodes the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuke facility within a day of the removal from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. While destruction of the tower, the facility's most recognizable feature, was seen as mostly symbolic, US officials saw it as striking visual evidence that North Korea was retreating from its nuclear ambitions, The Washington Times reported.
During talks last week, North Korean officials also tentatively agreed to hand over thousands of pages of documents, dating to 1990, concerning the daily production records of the facility. Moreover, North Korea reaffirmed it would act quickly after Pyongyang is removed from the US's terrorism list.
The North shut down the Yongbyon plant and is in the process of disabling it under a deal reached with the US, China, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia. |