The cooling tower of the Yongbyon nuclear complex, seen in this file photo distributed by China's official Xinhua News Agency, is demolished in Yongbyon, North Korea on June 27. North Korea toppled the cooling tower at its plutonium-producing reactor in a symbolic move to show its commitment to a nuclear deal after it submitted an inventory of its atomic program in June./REUTERS-Xinhua N.Korea ‘to Stay on Terror List Until Verification Is Agreed’ N.Korea Halts Nuclear Disablement What Does N.Korea Hope to Gain? Korea and U.S. Carefully Assess Pyongyang's Nuclear Ambitions U.S. Democrats Committed to Denuclearizing N.Korea N.Korea 'Starts Reassembling Nuke Facilities'

One official said the North Koreans “are definitely reassembling the plant." "The IAEA seals are not proving to be an impediment. In fact, they are breaking them, adding pipes, valves, etc., and then replacing the seals,” he added. A South Korean foreign service official said Seoul has no such information but “if it’s true, it means the North has taken a concrete step towards restoring its nuclear weapon facilities.”

Fox said the equipment that was removed from the reprocessing facility, one of three facilities at Yongbyon, “was refurbished rather than destroyed.” Japan’s Yomiuri Shinbum, however, reported North Korea is breaking only seals placed by the Americans in the Yongbyon plant, not the seals put on by the IAEA, quoting an IAEA source.

Meanwhile, the top negotiators from China, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. to the six-party talks on denuclearization of North Korea met in Beijing from Sept. 5 to 7. North Korea’s Kim Kye-gwan was not present. After meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei, the U.S.’ Christopher Hill said on Saturday, “Our focus is on trying to get through the verification protocol and then we will take them off the terrorism list immediately.” Washington’s decision to keep the North on the list for the time being prompted its announcement that it is halting the disablement process.

However, the Chosun Shinbo, a mouthpiece for Pyongyang published by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan or Chongryon, on the same day said, “North Korea is not obliged to go through inspection demanded by the United States under the pretext of ‘international standards,’ and will not accept it.”

(englishnews@chosun.com )