A senior British official visiting North Korea says foreign diplomats, including the British Ambassador to Pyongyang, will visit the site where a massive explosion last week prompted speculation that the North had conducted a nuclear test.

British Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell told reporters Monday that Pyongyang had accepted calls by the foreign ambassadors to be allowed to visit the explosion site in the North's Ranggang Province.

Also on Monday, the North's official KCNA News Agency reiterated earlier claims made by North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun that last Thursday's massive explosion near the country's border with China was part of a project to build a dam.

The news agency dismissed speculation by South Korean and foreign media outlets that the blast might have been caused by a detonation of nuclear device, denouncing Seoul and foreign media for launching what it called "a preposterous smear campaign" against the North.

The report was the first response from a North Korean news outlet on the huge blast, which occurred in the northernmost inland province of the communist state sometime between last Wednesday and Thursday.