Officials from South Korea, the U.S., Japan and the E.U. have agreed to extend by another year the suspension of an international project to build light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea.

The executive board of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) reached the agreement during its meeting in New York Thursday.

A KEDO official said the board members had agreed to extend the suspension after concurring that it would be undesirable to completely discontinue the project while diplomatic efforts are still underway to resolve North Korea's nuclear issue.

The 4.6 billion-dollar project was part of a 1994 deal between the North and the U.S. to provide two light-water nuclear reactors to the North in return for Pyongyang's suspension of its nuclear activities.