VIENNA, Sept 22: North Korea on Monday asked the UN’s nuclear watchdog to remove seals and cameras from its main atomic complex, the agency’s chief said, after vowing to restart the facility — reversing a nuclear disarmament deal.

A senior diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency said seals had since been removed but did not elaborate.

An IAEA official could not confirm that development and said efforts were being made to clarify the situation.

North Korea said on Friday it was working on reactivating the plutonium-producing Yongbyon complex, the basis of its atomic bomb programme, which it was dismantling previously under a much delayed disarmament-for-aid deal with five countries.

“This morning (North Korea) asked the agency’s inspectors to remove seals and surveillance equipment to enable them to carry out tests at the reprocessing plant, which they say will not involve nuclear material,” IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei told a meeting of the UN watchdog’s Board of Governors.

A senior diplomat close to the IAEA said: “Seals have been taken off.”

Last month, North Korea said it planned to restart Yongbyon because it was angry at Washington for not taking it off its terrorism blacklist. In early September, it made minor but initial moves to restart the plant, US officials said.—Reuters