The U.S. State Department says that despite North Korea's announcement that it has stopped disabling nuclear facilities at its Yongbyon reactor, a U.S. government delegation continues to monitor the Yongbyon site.

The U.S. nuclear disablement team comprises officials of the State and Energy Departments.

The fact that Pyongyang continues to allow the U.S. team to continue their activities at Yongbyon implies that its latest move may be the North's way of prompting negotiations with Washington.

The U.S. stands by its stance that it will only remove North Korea from the terrorism blacklist after the North agrees to a system for the thorough verification of its nuclear declaration.