North Korea says U.S., Japan hold key to disarming

By Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea cautioned after closing a nuclear reactor that produces weapons-grade plutonium that further disarmament progress would require the United States and Japan to end "hostile policies."

The United States on Sunday called the closure a welcome step toward disarmament, but said it remained concerned that the secretive communist state may have a covert weapons program and said further discussions would focus on the issue.

North Korea closed its Soviet-era Yongbyon reactor on Saturday as part of a February 13 oil-for-disarmament deal, the North's official KCNA news agency said. The first shipment of 50,000 tons of heavy oil also arrived that day, the agency said. KCNA's report on Sunday confirmed a U.S. account that it had been informed of the closure.

The closure was a sign of good faith toward the February agreement, which North Korea reached in six-party talks with South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia, the news agency said.

"The full implementation of the February 13 agreement depends on how the other five participating countries of the six-party talks honor their commitments ... and on what practical measures the U.S. and Japan, in particular, will take to roll back their hostile policies," KCNA said, citing a government spokesman.

North Korea has complained over U.S. financial sanctions and bristled at Japanese pressure for more information about abductions of its citizens by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.

In Washington, White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said it appeared Yongbyon had indeed been shut down. International inspectors would work to verify the closure within days.

But in comments on the "Fox News Sunday" television program, Hadley added that North Korea must give up its entire nuclear program under a broader framework reached in 2005 that led to the February agreement.