A top North Korean diplomat says his country will only freeze plutonium reprocessed from as early as January 2003, when Pyongyang withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

North Korea's Ambassador to China, Choi Jin-soo, made the comments in an interview with Japan's Kyodo News Agency Thursday. He said that the nuclear facilities that would be subject to a prospective nuclear freeze include the 5,000 Kilowatt graphite moderated reactor in Yongbyon, along with plutonium that has been reprocessed since January of last year.

Choi's comments apparently signify that the North will exclude from the scope of a possible nuclear freeze any plutonium processed before 1994, when North Korea and the United States signed a landmark nuclear pact.

Under the agreement, the North promised to freeze its nuclear weapons program in return for fuel oil, paid for by Washington, and two light water reactors that could not be easily converted to produce atomic weapons material.