North Korea says it has stopped disabling nuclear facilities at its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon.
In a statement on Tuesday, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said the suspension of nuclear disablement took effect on August 14th and that it notified "other concerned parties."
The statement said the North will also consider restoring the Yongbyon nuclear facilities, accusing the United States of violating the October 3rd, 2007 nuclear accord by refusing to take the communist state off its terrorism blacklist.
The statement defended the suspension of nuclear disablement, saying that Pyongyang had no choice but to react under the action-for-action principle.
Under the 2007 six-nation agreement, the North agreed to disable and declare its nuclear weapons facilities in return for Pyongyang's removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The statement blasted Washington for delaying the removal of North Korea from the terrorism list because of a failure to agree on a verification regime, calling it "a clear violation of the October 3rd agreement."
The North claimed that no agreements signed among members of the six-party talks, or between Pyongyang and Washington, made the delisting conditional on verification of the North's nuclear declaration.