NKorea says US, other parties slow on nuclear pact

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Friday it will not take further steps to dismantle its nuclear program until the U.S. and its other negotiating partners award fuel oil and political benefits promised under an aid-for-disarmament deal.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement it has disabled 80 percent of its main nuclear complex, but countries involved in six-nation disarmament talks have only made 40 percent of the energy shipments promised to the North.

The energy-starved North was promised the aid equivalent of 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil under the February 2007 deal with China, South Korea, Russia, Japan and the United States.

The ministry statement said North Korea has shown its resolve to disarm by destroying a cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex last week — a measure it says was required under the next phase of a denuclearization agreement.

"Participants in the six-party talks should also join our efforts by faithfully following through with their due obligations," said the statement, carried by the North Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea submitted a long-awaited declaration of nuclear facilities to China last week, raising hopes for a breakthrough in stalled talks on its atomic programs. In exchange, Washington lifted some economic sanctions against the North and began steps to remove the country from a State Department list of states that sponsor terrorism.

North Korea's statement said however that the U.S. has not yet officially removed it from the terrorism list and the contents of relaxed sanctions were incomplete. It did not elaborate.

The North said it will only move on to the next phase of the denuclearization process when it has been awarded all the energy aid and political benefits promised under the deal.

"That is our consistent position and basic request under the 'action-for-action' principle," it said.

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