North Korea has asked the UN nuclear watchdog to remove its seals from a key atomic facility, the organisation says.
Pyongyang had said it would reactivate the Yongbyon plant amid disputes over a disarmament-for-aid deal.
North Korea said Washington had not taken it off a list of state sponsors of terrorism, as promised.
The removal of similar seals in December 2002 sparked a long-running crisis which resulted in Pyongyang testing an atomic weapon in 2006.
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Rice to meet North Korean FM at six-party talks ... (IAEA), Mohammed El Baradei, told reporters that North Korea asked inspectors to remove the agency's seals and surveillance cameras on Monday morning.
Mr ElBaradei said this was "to enable them to carry out tests at the reprocessing plant, which they say will not involve nuclear material".
A senior diplomat close to the IAEA told Reuters that the seals had been removed.
Pyongyang was expecting to be removed from the US terror list after finally submitting a long-delayed account of its nuclear facilities to the six-party talks in June, in accordance with the disarmament deal it signed in 2007.
It also blew up the main cooling tower at Yongbyon in a symbolic gesture of its commitment to the process.
But the North now says it no longer wants US incentives and will push ahead with plans to resume operations at Yongbyon.
(BBC)
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