N. Korea to demolish nuclear facility soon

KOREA: North Korea has agreed to demolish the cooling tower at its main atomic complex soon after it makes a declaration of its nuclear programme, a South Korean official said on Wednesday.

The cooling tower at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex, about 60 miles (100 km) north of Pyongyang, has been the focus of U.S. surveillance in recent years for indications that the North was operating a plutonium-producing reactor there.

"It will come on the heels of the declaration," Kim Sook, South Korea's chief envoy to six-country talks on ending the North's nuclear programme, said when asked about the demolition of the cooling tower.

Kim spoke after returning from Washington, where he held talks with U.S. and Japanese nuclear negotiators.

Once the declaration is made, the United States is expected to drop North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism and to end sanctions imposed under the U.S. Trading With the Enemy Act. Seoul, Wednesday, Reuters