FACTBOX: Key facts about North Korea's Yongbyon

(Reuters) - North Korea said on Tuesday it would suspend disabling its nuclear plant that produces arms-grade plutonium and will consider restoring its reactor because the United States has violated a disarmament deal.

The country demolished the cooling tower at the Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear complex in late June, in a symbolic event supposed to highlight its commitment to a six-way disarmament-for-aid deal.

Following are some facts about the Yongbyon nuclear complex and what moves to restart it could mean:

LOCATION

- Yongbyon is about 100 km (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, built in a clearing in the rugged mountain ranges of the North Pyongan province.

THE FACILITIES

- The complex consists of a five-megawatt reactor, a fuel fabrication facility and a plutonium reprocessing plant, where weapons-grade material would be extracted from spent fuel rods.

- The site also contains a 50-megawatt reactor whose construction was suspended under a 1994 nuclear deal with the United States. The reactor is nowhere near completion.

ESCALATION OF TENSION

- In February 2005, North Korea declared for the first time it had nuclear weapons. It conducted its first nuclear test with a plutonium-based device in October 2006.

THE TALLY

- U.S. officials said the North has produced about 50 kg (110 lb) of plutonium, which proliferation experts said conservatively would be enough for about eight nuclear weapons.

DELIVERING A WEAPON

- North Korea has an extensive missile program with several hundred missiles that can hit all of South Korea and most of Japan. Experts doubt that the state has the technology to miniaturize a weapon and mount it as a warhead on a missile.

- The backbone of North Korea's air force is an ageing fleet 780 fighters and 80 bombers built with Soviet technology.

DISMANTLEMENT DELAYS