UN nuclear monitors today said they were able to see all that they wanted on their visit to the plutonium-producing reactor that North Korea has pledged to shut down in return for aid.

A US DELEGATION flew to North Korea yesterday, hoping to visit a nuclear complex at the heart of the North’s atomic arms programme, as Pyongyang pitched what it called a “bold concession” to restart talks.

The Bush administration says it will try to use diplomacy to deal with North Korea’s claim that it has produced enough plutonium for about six nuclear bombs.

North Korea today warned that a US pre-emptive attack on the North’s nuclear facilities would trigger a “full-scale war” on the volatile Korean Peninsula, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said.