North Korea has secretly and quickly built a new facility to enrich uranium, according to a US nuclear scientist.

NORTH KOREA, facing international censure for this week’s nuclear test, threatened yesterday to attack the South after it joined a US-led plan to check vessels suspected of carrying equipment for weapons of mass destruction.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said today North Korea could restart its nuclear facility within months.

Defiant North Korea said it was restarting its rogue nuclear programme, booting out United Nations inspectors and withdrawing from disarmament talks.

The White House tonight called on North Korea to “cease its provocative threats” and respect the will of the international community by honouring its international commitments.

South Korea will send a team of nuclear experts to North Korea this week to survey Pyongyang’s unused fuel rods, the Foreign Ministry said today.

INTERNATIONAL talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme stalled yesterday, envoys said, after the communist regime snubbed a Chinese proposal outlining how monitors could verify its past atomic activities.

South Korean intelligence indicates that ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il suffered a serious setback and has been taken to hospital, it was reported today.

North Korea said it will resume disabling its main nuclear complex after the US removed the country from a terrorism blacklist – a breakthrough expected to energise stalled international talks over the communist nation’s atomic programmes.

NORTH KOREA barred UN nuclear inspectors from its main nuclear reactor yesterday and within a week plans to reactivate the plant that once provided the plutonium for its atomic test explosion, the chief UN nuclear inspector said.

Nuclear inspectors were banned from North Korea’s main reactor today as the country prepared to restart the weapons-grade plutonium plant.

NORTH KOREA said yesterday it is working to restart its atomic reactor and no longer wants US concessions after accusing Washington of breaking a nuclear disarmament pact.

SOUTH KOREA yesterday said that North Korea has started restoring its nuclear facilities after the communist country suspended operations last month to disable them.

Japanese media say North Korea has begun to reassemble its main nuclear facility, citing a delayed removal from a US list of terror sponsors.

An angry North Korea has halted its nuclear disarmament plans in protest at America continuing to list it as a terrorism-supporting country.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said he is willing to meet North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il any time if it will help end the North’s nuclear programmes.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised China’s post-earthquake recovery efforts during a visit to the disaster zone today, saying it contrasted with Burma’s reluctance to allow in aid after a devastating cyclone.

North Korea destroyed the most visible symbol of its nuclear weapons programme today in a sign of its commitment to stop making plutonium for atomic bombs.

North Korea took a major step towards allaying world fears over its nuclear ambitions today by releasing details of its programme.

The White House says North Korea’s secret work on a nuclear reactor with Syria was “a dangerous and potentially destabilising development for the world”.

The top US envoy on North Korea made a rare visit to the communist country today to inspect work to disable its nuclear complex so that Pyongyang will no longer be able to produce atomic bombs.

A SYRIAN site bombed by Israel in September was probably a plant for assembling a nuclear bomb, an Israeli nuclear expert said yesterday, challenging other analysts’ conclusions that it housed a North Korean-style nuclear reactor.

A team of experts will begin disabling North Korea’s nuclear facilities on Monday, the US envoy said today, marking the Communist country’s biggest step yet to scale back its atomic programme.

The US is working with North Korea to remove it from Washington’s blacklist of states sponsoring terrorism as American experts prepare to start disabling the Communist nation’s nuclear reactor, a top US diplomat said today.

Leaders of North and South Korea pledged in a reconciliation pact today to finally seek a peace treaty to replace the Korean War’s 1953 cease-fire, and expand projects to reduce tension across the world’s last Cold War frontier.

NORTH Korea will provide a complete list of its nuclear programmes and disable facilities at its main reactor complex by December 31, overseen by a US-led team, the six nations involved in disarmament talks said yesterday.

North Korea has promised to disable its main nuclear weapons plants by the end of the year.

North Korea has cooperated fully with a team of UN nuclear experts who were monitoring the shutdown of the country’s sole plutonium-producing reactor, the leader of the team said today.

Arms talks with North Korea failed to yield an agreement on a deadline for disabling its nuclear facilities, the US said today, dashing hopes for another disarmament breakthrough after the shutdown of Pyongyang’s sole reactor.

UN inspectors have verified that North Korea has shut down its sole functioning nuclear reactor, the chief of the watchdog agency said today, confirming Pyongyang's first step to halt production of atomic weapons in nearly five years.

NORTH Korea yesterday confirmed it had shut down its Yongbyon atomic reactor under UN supervision, the first step in a process designed to rid the communist state of nuclear weapons.

North Korea said today that any future progress on its disarmament would depend on the US and Japan ending alleged hostile policies against the communist regime.

North Korea has told the United States it has shut down its nuclear reactor, the US State Department said today, hours after a ship cruised into port loaded with oil promised in return for the country’s pledge to disarm.

UN inspectors have arrived in Pyongyang to monitor the shutdown of North Korea’s nuclear reactor, official Xinhua News Agency reported today.

The UN’s nuclear agency today approved sending experts to North Korea to supervise the shutdown of its plutonium-producing reactor, the agency’s chief Mohamed ElBaradei said.

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.

UN inspectors were travelling to North Korea’s key nuclear reactor today to discuss a long-delayed shutdown of the facility, as the country came under increasing international criticism for launching missile tests this week.

US military officials will seek to verify whether North Korea shuts down its nuclear reactor as promised and if it tries to move the operations elsewhere, it was announced today.

North Korea vowed today to move forward with its pledge to shut down its nuclear reactor in exchange for aid.

A senior official from the UN nuclear watchdog is preparing today for a rare visit to North Korea for discussions on how the agency’s inspectors would monitor and verify the shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor.

North Korea’s plutonium-producing reactor could be shut down in three weeks’ time in a deal agreed with the US, a top nuclear envoy said today.

US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill ended a surprise trip to North Korea today, amid optimism that the visit heralded renewed progress in international efforts to denuclearise the communist country.

A top US nuclear envoy headed today to North Korea in a surprise trip ahead of the expected resumption of international talks on halting the communist nation’s nuclear weapons programme, US and Japanese officials said.

North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator told US envoys today that his government would immediately invite UN nuclear inspectors into the country if £12.7m (€18.6m) in disputed funds were released.