N. Korea set to blow up nuke plant on TV

NKOREA: Secretive North Korea was expected to blow up the cooling tower at its nuclear reactor Friday live on worldwide television, looking to show its commitment to eventually getting rid of the atom bomb.

A day after handing over an account of its nuclear programmes, the communist state was to flatten the tower at the plutonium-producing Yongbyon complex, the most visible symbol of a decades-old pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The explosion at an undisclosed time will be symbolic since the Yonbyon reactor has already been shut down under a six-nation disarmament pact.

But it follows the North’s handover Thursday evening of the long-awaited nuclear declaration, a move expected to end the stalemate in six-party negotiations on disarming the poor and isolated state. A wary US President George W. Bush welcomed the declaration as an “important step” but said it was only the start of the process.

“We will trust you only to the extent that you fulfil your promises,” he told the country he once branded as part of an “axis of evil.”

Bush announced he was partly lifting some Trading With The Enemy Act sanctions. He notified Congress he was removing North Korea from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, effective after a 45-day review period.

These measures are also largely symbolic since a battery of other sanctions against the North remain in force, including UN sanctions imposed after the country’s October 2006 nuclear test.

Seoul, Friday, AFP