A Japanese report says North Korea may scrap a security memorandum for construction workers working in the North to build nuclear reactors.

The Asahi Shimbun said the North sent a letter to that effect to the secretariat of the Korea Peninsula Energy Development Organization in New York last month.

It quoted a high-ranking U-S official as saying Pyongyang called for high-level talks to discuss the reactor project, saying the memorandum was on the verge of becoming obsolete.

The memorandum was exchanged between KEDO and the North back in 2003, when the project was suspended. If the memo, which guarantees the security of field workers, is ever nullified, some 120 South Koreans working in the North could be denied habeas corpus rights.

The newspaper said KEDO plans to send a high-ranking official to North Korea within this month in order to determine the intent of the recent letter.