VIENNA, Austria - North Korea has lifted its ban on U.N. nuclear inspectors and is again allowing them access to the plutonium-producing plant it used to set up an atomic test explosion, diplomats said Monday. The move was a strong indication that the country was making good on its pledge to return to an international deal meant to strip its weapons-enabling nuclear program in exchange for political concessions and energy aid. Pyongyang announced Sunday it would resume dismantling its atomic program after the United States removed North Korea from its list of states sponsoring terrorism. North Korea set off a nuclear test blast in 2006, then agreed to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for the concessions.

But negotiations have foundered and up to late last week, the North had threatened to reactivate the plutonium reprocessing plant at the Yongbyon site, telling International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to remove IAEA seals and banning U.N. inspectors from the sprawling site.

Despite the ban, the three-member IAEA team was allowed to stay on at their guest house in Yongbyon. And one of the diplomats told The Associated Press on Monday that the government approved visas late last week for members of a new inspection team - even as it appeared to be moving to restart its atomic activities.

That suggested that the North's threat to stop dismantling its nuclear program and restart it was a negotiating ploy meant to wrest more concessions from the U.S., Russia, China, South Korea and Japan, the five countries engaging the reclusive communist country.

The regime began disabling its nuclear processing plant in Yongbyon in November, and blew up a cooling tower in June in a dramatic display of its determination to carry out the process.

Just steps away from completing the second phase of the three-part process, Pyongyang abruptly reversed course in mid-August and stopped disabling the plant, angered by Washington's failure to remove the regime from the terror list. The U.S. had said North Korea first had to allow inspectors to verify that the list of nuclear activities it submitted in June was complete.

Washington said Saturday that North Korea had agreed to all its nuclear inspection demands.

It was not known Monday whether the North had restarted disabling its atomic program. The North's state media on Monday carried typical propaganda articles praising the Kim Jong Il regime. South Korea's Foreign Ministry said it has not detected any change.

The two diplomats revealing the latest developments spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. They are based in Vienna, home to the IAEA, and are familiar with the agency's monitoring activities at Yongbyon.

Written By GEORGE JAHN

Email To A Friend